About Us
Cloudforests was founded in 2020 with a mission to create forests for the planet, nature and people along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way.
We also partner with businesses that are environmentally conscious to create Urban Cloudforests, enhancing our towns and cities for biodiversity and people.
Our urban forests are planted very densely in small areas up to the size of a tennis court. They quickly provide safe havens and habitat for Irish wildlife, helping to filter air pollution and cool temperatures in the city, and over time will become a carbon store.
Our Mission
To empower businesses and educational facilities of any size to be a part of the transition to a more natural & greener world
through afforestation, education & conservation.
FAQs
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We create small, densely planted woodlands in towns and cities around Ireland using native species of trees and shrubs. Due to the dense nature of the planting, the trees and shrubs grow very rapidly.
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Our urban forests provide natural oases for Irish wildlife. They also provide a vital ecosystem that greatly benefit us.
These small dense mixed forests absorb more than 30 times more carbon than grass lawns and help to reduce global warming. The temperature within these forests is typically 2 degrees centigrade below the temperature around the forest.
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We have taken inspiration from Japanese botanist Prof. Akira Miyawaki for our urban forests, although we’ve adjusted the method to suit the Irish soil conditions and our resources.
Several months before planting, the future forest floor is prepared by covering it with layers of cardboard, and wood chip mulch. This helps suppress competing grass growth, retains moisture, and maintain a more even ground temperature.
Over winter, we return to work with the students and our CoolPartners to plant the trees and shrubs at a rate of one to three per square metre.
The only maintenance required in the first few years is to ensure that the bark mulch keeps the weeds suppressed, straighten any young trees that get rocked by the wind, and if necessary, occasionally add an extra layer of mulch.
After three years your urban forest should be self-sustaining.
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Urban Forests can be planted almost anywhere there is vacant green space, although the surrounding environment should be considered when choosing the species planted in them .
We recommend that they be planted on existing areas of lawn in public parks, open spaces, school & college grounds, business campuses, etc.
Regular mowing of these areas of grass maintains will have diminished biodiversity in the area, which our forests can help to return to the location.
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Our urban forests are created by planting native Irish and naturalised bare-root trees and shrubs.
Native plants have acclimatised to Irish conditions over thousands of years and are best suited to our conditions.
The best planting time for bare-root trees and shrubs in the Irish climate is from December to March.
