Family Tree Scheme

Sponsor a Tree For €40

The Family Tree Scheme enables you to commemorate an important event or to remember a loved one, by giving you the opportunity to have a tree or trees planted in their name.

There are three Family Tree sites in Ireland:

• Birr Castle, Co. Offaly
• Muckross Forest, Killarney, Co. Kerry
• Strokestown House, Co. Roscommon

Your name, the name of the person and the occasion you want remembered or celebrated will be entered into a record book maintained for public inspection at each site. A certificate, recording the dedication, will be sent to you or the relevant person.

The fee of €40 paid to the Tree Council goes into a fund allocated to the sites during the planting season and assists the cost of planting and maintenance of the special Family Tree groves. In Birr Castle Demesne, Co. Offaly and Strokestown House, Co. Roscommon, your trees are identified by a number in the Site Record Book, corresponding to a tag in front of each tree.

In Muckross Forest, Kilarney, Co. Kerry, the trees are not individually identified but part of a woodland in a specified plot. The sites are all open to the public on a regular basis and continued maintenance is assured.

To download a Family Tree Scheme form (word document) and to place an order click here.

Larch Hill Family Tree Scheme

Sponsor a Tree For €50

The Tree Council of Ireland has initiated a Family Tree Scheme with Scouting Ireland in Larch Hill giving people the opportunity of having trees planted in their names and ensuring the continuity of one of our most precious national assets.

The Larch Hill Family Tree Scheme enables you to commemorate an important event, or to remember a loved one. Your family tree will span the human generations, giving pleasure to many, while enriching Ireland's natural heritage.

• Your name, the name of the person and occasion you want remembered will be entered into a record book.
• Your certificate recording the dedication will be sent to the person of your choice.
• Your donation goes to the Larch Hill International Scout and Guide Campsite and the Tree Council of Ireland, price €50

To download a Larch Hill Family Tree Scheme application form (word document) and to place an order click here.

Top of Page

Irish Tree Trivia

Ethiopia originally had 40% forest cover, but today has only 4%. Much of the forest cover was cleared for farming, but despite this, hunger and famine still occur.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, the need to find new forests to exploit in Central Europe led the Germans to invade the lands of the Slavs.

Between the years 1339 and 1387, in order to protect from avalanches and landslides, Switzerland enacted laws to prohibiting the felling of forests.

The first forestry code controlling the felling of oak in France was introduced in 1376.

For many centuries, Venice had its own beech forests grown specifically to produce timber for the production of oars for gondolas. Some of these forests still exist in the Italian Dolomites.

By replacing felled trees with new trees, forests can be managed in a way that allows timber to be harvested each and every year. Forests are destroyed where people keen on making an immediate gain fell too many trees without bothering to replace them. This is happening in many forests throughout the world, including rainforests.

Russia has the largest reserve of timber on earth.

About half of the wood felled annually is used for fuel, i.e. to cook food and to provide heat. In many parts of Africa today, wood is so scarce that it costs more to heat the pot than to fill the pot.