They are rich, damp, dappled places of twisted branches, vivid green mosses and lichens, important homes for rare birds, bats and insects, and steeped in myths and tales.
But a report from a group of conservation organisations has concluded that the remaining pockets of temperate, or Celtic, rainforests of Wales are in a parlous condition and is calling for urgent action from the Welsh government.
The newly created Alliance for Wales’ Rainforests (AWR) says only about one in five of the 68 sites it has surveyed are in good condition and none could be rated as in very good condition. Invasive species such as rhododendron and ivy are present at 70% of the sites, with many of them suffering from insensitive grazing and air pollution.
According to the report, only about a tenth of the sites are designated as special areas of conservation or sites of special scientific interest, which means they do not get the protection they deserve and need.
The AWR is a collaboration between the Wildlife Trusts Wales, Eryri (Snowdonia) national park authority, Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust in Wales), RSPB Cymru, National Trust Cymru and Plantlife.
Kylie Jones Mattock, the interim director at Coed Cadw, said: “This report marks a critical step in safeguarding Wales’s natural heritage, underlining the importance of proactive rainforest conservation. We are urging the Welsh government to take notice, and act now whilst we still have time to protect and restore these vital habitats.”
The report says that Wales’s temperate rainforests cover 768,000 hectares (about 1,900,000 acres) and represent the remaining slivers of an extraordinary forest landscape that, after the last ice age, would have stretched across much of western Britain. They occur where consistently high rainfall combines with a mild climate and tree cover to create the perfect conditions for moisture-loving plants, lichens and mosses.
The landscape is home, the report says, to an “incredible” diversity of mosses and liverworts, with more than 200 species recorded at the richest sites. The greatest diversity is usually found along cascades and waterfalls, where spray and mist maintain humid conditions.
Some sites also support 400 species of lichens with “significant” populations of globally rare examples such as the rare blackberries-in-custard (Pyrenula hibernica).
Birds such as the pied flycatcher, the wood warbler and the redstart also do well in temperate rainforests, as do mammals including the barbastelle bat and the lesser horseshoe bat.
The report says the assemblages of plants and lichens offer food and shelter for a suite of species including rare snails, beetles, craneflies, fungus gnats, fungi, slime moulds and moths. According to the report, the Celtic rainforest is also an excellent carbon store and good for flood and drought mitigation.
It flags that Celtic rainforests are places of “deep cultural and historic significance”, a setting for myths and stories, concluding: “The loss of species and habitats is therefore not only a physical loss but also a symbolic loss, a rubbing out of long-forged connections between us, our ancestors, our language and our landscape.”
The AWR is calling for a range of measures to be introduced including giving more of the Celtic rainforest protected status, and improving management, for example by implementing conservation grazing, controlling invasive species and investing in research.
Adam Thorogood, the rainforest programme manager at Plantlife, said: “This landmark report demonstrates the immense value and extreme vulnerability of Wales’s temperate rainforests. This is a concerted clarion call for both better protection and appropriate management of remaining rainforests.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We welcome this report and support the important work carried out by AWR to protect and improve our important Celtic rainforest habitats. The importance of our trees and forest landscapes is reflected in our programme for government commitments and we are firmly committed to their protection.”
