School Information

Tree Day

See our programme section for further details or contact the Tree Council of Ireland on 01 493 1313.

Tree Day Manual

Worksheets for all ages of primary school children are available.
Email the Tree Council for details at trees@treecouncil.ie
or download a Word/PDF document here

Project Forest

The Tree Council is delighted to make Project Forest available to all Transition Year Students. The project is available only on a dedicated web site www.projectforest.ie

The greatest threat to our environment today is climate change. This is caused by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. These hold on to the heat radiated by the sun and so causes our planet to heat up. Trees can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by photosynthesis. Trees also support biodiversity and provide renewable raw material. Project Forest is where you will learn all you need to know about trees.

Project Forest is designed for Transition year students. It takes a wide educational approach to learning about trees. The Objectives of Module are to:

• Create an understanding of the nature of woods and forests
• Create an awareness of the role of forests in man’s existence
• Encourage a sense of ownership of the forest environment nationally and locally
• Encourage appreciation of wood as a material

There are four modules:

• Biological
• Geographic
• Wood and Forest Products
• Culture

Each module to comprise 2 weeks including 2 double period introductory lessons with desk exercises, 1 field trip, and one post field trip lecture /exercise.

The Project was funded by The Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food and was devised by Dr. Gerhardt Gallagher and Éanna Ní Lamhna.

Irish Tree Trivia

English and Scottish planters, who were given lands in Ireland, began to plant trees again in the 1700s.

Many were encouraged to do so by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), which began to give grants for tree planting beginning in 1742 and lasted for 140 years. It was part funded by the Irish Parliament in Dublin from 1761 until the Act of Union of 1800 but continued until 1881.

Throughout the 19th century, explorers from Ireland and the rest of Europe visited far away places such as China, North and South America, and Australia. They brought back many exotic tree species to plant on their estates, and many of these can still be seen in the Irish landscape.