The positive impact of rewild volunteers

ReWild Wicklow volunteers have assisted with tree planting, peatland restoration, vegetation management, seed sowing, erecting deer fencing, nest box building, litter cleanups, and setting up camera traps

ReWild Wicklow volunteers grandad and granddaughter, John and Saoirse Alvey, planting Scots pine

What part can volunteers play in Ireland’s biodiversity crisis?

This was the question my siblings, Simon, Ian, Enya, and I had considered for many years. With no wealth, expertise, or land of our own, we struggled to see how we could contribute in a significant way to tackling Ireland’s biodiversity crisis. We were on the mailing lists for national organisations who had the odd volunteer day or field trip here or there, and we helped out at local litter cleanups when we could. 

But beyond this, we felt in many ways just bystanders to the slow decline of wildlife all around us in our home county of Wicklow. When we were children we remember regularly seeing hedgehogs all around Wicklow Town, otters in the local Vartry river, and ladybirds and caterpillars all along the Murrough, our local coastal wetland. Now our own children rarely see such wildlife and some of them have never even seen a hedgehog!

We were finally spurred into action when a ‘Masterplan for Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains National Park’ was launched in February 2021. The press release referenced “environmental impact management” but surprisingly there was no mention of improving biodiversity or restoring habitats. Anyone who regularly visits the Wicklow Mountains, will agree the National Park could be so much more, it should be a place where nature thrives. Instead, it is a landscape dominated by degraded peatland and encroaching Sitka spruce from plantations that surround the park.

ReWild Wicklow volunteers with NPWS rangers at the Barnacullian Ridge peatland restoration site in the Wicklow Mountains

We decided to launch a petition on change.org to have biodiversity and rewilding added to the plan. It was in the midst of another pandemic lockdown and local people were spending a lot of time out walking in nature. We think this contributed to how the petition was received and really took off beyond our wildest expectations. By April 2021 the petition had more than 10,000 signatures and we were invited to present it to the Minister for Heritage Malcolm Noonan.

But with the spark now ignited in Wicklow we knew we could not stop there. During the course of the petition campaign, many local nature enthusiasts and experts got in touch with us and a group began to form. All of us wanted to contribute to practical, tangible efforts to restoring habitats locally and we decided to use our new-found profile to recruit volunteers into a community group. ReWild Wicklow was born.

ReWild Wicklow volunteers Zef Klinkenbergh and Ralph Andrews building peatland restoration dams

Our mission is to monitor, protect, enhance, and increase native habitats in Wicklow so it can support a vast, biodiverse, balanced ecosystem of historical flora and fauna. In short — a Wicklow as wild as it once was. We aim to achieve this by reaching out and offering volunteers to all public, private, and NGO landowners who are restoring nature across the county. We put a strong emphasis on citizen science and people power, educating the public and encouraging volunteers to get involved with our work.

ReWild Wicklow volunteers at a pond digging day in Wild Acres Nature Reserve

This approach has been far more successful than we ever could have imagined. To date, we have partnered with 14 other public, private, and NGO conservation organisations working in Wicklow. We have recruited more than 1,000 volunteers onto our database using social media and local news outlets. With these volunteers we have organised 50 activity days throughout 2022 and 2023. 

These volunteer days have included tree planting (5,000-plus trees now planted), peatland restoration (more than 200 small timber and stone dams now built), vegetation management, seed sowing, erecting deer fencing, nest box building, litter cleanups, and setting up camera traps.

The biggest project we have collaborated on to date has been a camera trap survey called ‘Snapshot Europe.’ The goal of this project is to collect systematic wildlife camera trap data on mammals across as many study sites in Europe as possible during September and October each year. 

The first year of the survey was 2021 and to ensure Ireland was represented in a small way, 10 camera traps were deployed as a joint initiative of University College Dublin and Irish PhD student Adam F Smith of the University of Freiburg, Germany.

In 2022, ReWild Wicklow partnered with Adam and the staff and students of UCD’s Laboratory of Wildlife Ecology and Behaviour to expand Snapshot Europe in Wicklow. We did local fundraising and successfully applied for grants from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the Local Authority Waters Programme to purchase an additional 20 camera traps. This would now be the largest camera trap survey of its kind ever initiated in the Republic of Ireland.

ReWild Wicklow volunteers Simon Alvey and John Barry planting willow on the Miner's Way

We launched the final report during National Biodiversity Week 2023 and the results show the distribution and frequency of mammals in the Wicklow Mountains project area. 

Our cameras successfully monitored 37 sites, collected 93,670 photographs, and captured nine wild mammal species and a variety of birds. The report reveals just how abundant sika deer now are in Wicklow. But there is also a good news story with the continued recovery of the pine marten as it was the fourth most common wild mammal identified in our study. The full report is here.

We plan to continue and expand this camera trap survey every year to show us the trends of wildlife distribution in Wicklow. We have already secured an additional 12 cameras for this year. 

We hope this scientific evidence, coupled with our on-the-ground work, will strengthen the argument for improving and expanding our protected areas in Wicklow and the role community groups can play in this.

ReWild Wicklow's Danny Alvey with Brian O'Toole of Wild Acres Nature Reserve planting oak saplings

Our community group is a testament that, with a little bit of organising, volunteers can have a truly significant impact on the fight to turn the tide. We would love to see other ‘ReWild’ groups started in every county of Ireland and we would be only too delighted to offer our guidance and advice. Looking forward to hearing from you!

“It's hard to feel frustrated or powerless about the state of the planet after a day in nature with friendly souls planting oak trees, or saving saplings from weeds, or helping to bring a beautiful bog back to life. ReWild Wicklow is the perfect antidote to scrolling on the sofa or soapboxing about stuff — it feels practical, empowering and profound.”  — Maria O’Loughlin, resident of Laragh, Wicklow and ReWild Wicklow volunteer.

• Danny Alvey is chairperson of  ReWild Wicklow