Our Origins
The Cloudforest story can be traced back to Feb 2020, when our founder Bernard Pender dusted down an old business plan during the Covid-19 Pandemic. At this time Ireland was under a complete lockdown, and this business plan envisioned the creation of native woodlands across Ireland to enhance and improve biodiversity.
Bernard saw how the earth was changing due to global warming and climate change, and decided he wanted to do something worthwhile and credible. He formed a plan to create a network of forests along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. So on the 19th Of April 2020…
Cloudforests was born!
2020
In April, our first Cloudforests website went online and we began searching for our first forest location.
In October, the very first Cloudforest Site in Lahinch, Co. Clare was purchased. This became our flagship site and was named Cloudforest One.
Planting began on the site in December, with around 21 ,000 Native Irish trees planted across the site. The species planted on the site included Sitka, Oak, Birch, Rowan, Alder and Willow.
A twenty-five year time lapse was mounted on site to record the growth of the forest, along with a live stream captured using Axis 4K cameras & streamed on the internet through Starlink Technology.
2021
In March, Cloudforest One was followed by Cloudforest Two, a beautiful site in Carrigaholt, also in county Clare. This site has spectacular views of nearby Carrigaholt and the Shannon Estuary.
In April our first CoolPartner, Usee signed up to support our mission.
In June, we purchased our third site, Cloudforest Three, located at a beautiful village called Doonaha on the banks of the river Shannon in County Clare.
Also in June, we welcomed our second CoolPartner Seakel Fire & Security who came on board & joined our community of businesses making planet earth cool.
By the end of 2021, our community of incredible CoolPartners had grown from 2 all the way to 21. We were joined by businesses from all industries, including security, solar, tourism & even a football club!
We also launched our Gift Tree Grove, which gives everyone the ability to gift a native Irish tree planted on one of our Cloudforest sites, to a loved one, employee, colleague, supplier etc.
In November, we brought in our first employee Alan to nurture & grow our community.
Then in December, in an expanded partnership with Shelbourne FC we launched the creation of the world’s first forest dedicated to a football club, with its own dedicated webpage.
2022
At the beginning of February, we announced our intention to undertake the role of a Conservation Area for Apis mellifera mellifera (our native Irish honeybee) in partnership with the Native Irish Honey Bee Society. Later in the year, we installed a Conservation Area for the Apis mellifera mellifera at Cloudforests One.
On 22.02.2022, we held our inaugural Community Planting Day in Doonaha, Co. Clare. This was an opportunity for our first CoolPartners to create their own Miniature Cloudforest in Cloudforest Three on the beautiful Loop Head Peninsula.
We also added another forest to our portfolio at the start of 2022 with Cloudforest Four in Ennistymon in Co. Clare, a stunning 30 acre site.
In June, Cloudforest Two was announced as the site for our Red Wood Forest Creation partnership with Shelbourne Football Club.
In July, we announced our fifth forest site, Cloudforest Five in Camp, Co. Kerry. The site is over fourteen acres sweeping down to the sea just off the main Tralee to Dingle road at Mountoven. This site will be home to our Campaign Trees, planted in collaboration with some of our CoolPartners (Midsummer, Secure Logiq, HSSCU, IMS & My Irish Cousin).
In September, we launched the CoolTribe Podcast to help educate ourselves, our community & the general public on a wide range of topics from climate change, corporate governance, to biodiversity & forestry.
2023
Throughout 2023 our CoolPartner Community grew to a massive 63 members!
We joined forces with different voluntary organisations to learn about bringing biodiversity and carbon sequestration to towns and cities by way of urban forests.
In June, our work experience gal Kim took on the permanent role of Woodland Development Manager for our sites.
Also in June, we completed our first urban forest ground prep event in Tyrrelstown, followed by one in Donabate in July.
In September, we shifted our urban forestry programme up a gear, committing to planting 10 forests in schools throughout Dublin during the ‘23/24 planting season.
In November, we held our 2023 CoolPartner Community Planting Day in Cloudforest One in Lahinch. An amazing day, we were delighted to see so many of our CoolPartners make the journey and join us planting over 1000 trees, including a new orchard!
The last two months of the year were incredibly busy for us, as we also held 6 more urban forest ground prep events, and were delighted to plant trees with the students in Donabate Community College (pictured) in our home town, and Gaelscoil an Chuilinn in Tyrrelstown!
In December, after a long delay, we finally received approval to plant a native Irish forest in Cloudforest Four in Ennistymon. We can’t wait to get that underway in 2024!
Our Forests
So far since 2020, we have added five forests along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. These forests will all be developed purely for the planet, nature and people.
Want to be part of the Cloudforest story?
Choose how you’d like to support our mission to make Planet Earth cool through forest creation, conservation & education. Get in touch!