About the reserve

Lenamore Wood is the focus of plans to bring temperate rainforest back locally, thanks to a long-term partnership between Aviva and The Wildlife Trusts. 

This incredibly rare habitat, also known as Celtic rainforest or Atlantic oakwood, thrives in areas of high rainfall and humidity. Sadly, it has been reduced to less than 1% of the land area, making restoration vital for the survival of red squirrels, Irish stoats, threatened birds such as wood warbler, and a host of mosses, ferns and fungi.  

We plan to extend the current area of oak and birch woodland by 16.6 hectares, helping nature recover, remove carbon from the atmosphere, benefit local communities for generations to come. Locally sourced acorns will be gathered and grown on for transplanting in a year or two, to boost what is already there. 

Lenamore Wood will provide a place where people can come and find out more about temperate rainforest and watch its development over the years. Local communities in the Gortin area will be closely involved in the rainforest recovery project and will benefit from increased access to nature, volunteering, and educational opportunities.

Restoring this habitat will help fight climate change, as rainforests have huge potential for storing carbon and help to achieve our net-zero ambition. It will also reduce threats from extreme heat, flood, and drought, and enable local people to reap the benefits. 

Although it will take decades before Lenamore Wood becomes a fully functioning rainforest, the journey begins now. By protecting and restoring this remarkable habitat, as Ulster Wildlife’s newest nature reserve, we will also be contributing to the target of protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030.

In due course, Lenamore Wood Nature Reserve will be accessible to all and will be a place to walk among young oaks, watch the forest grow, and be part of something that future generations of people and wildlife can cherish.