A woodland charity says it's delighted with progress made by its new branch in Co Roscommon.
The Native Woodland Trust which aims to develop native woodland, established a branch of the organisation at Lecarrow in Roscommon in recent months.
It's been working with local people to build a nursery which will help produce trees to be planted on 17 acres of forestry acquired by the trust in the county.
The site is just 500 metres from St Johns wood which is one of the oldest surviving primary woodlands in the country.
Just over 30 people will be taking part in a special biodiversity walk in the area this weekend to view progress made by the Woodland Trust over recent months.
Jeremy Casey says they are very happy that local people have been so willing to get involved in plans for conserving and expanding the forest.
"I'm delighted to say things are moving very swiftly and since we spoke last we've been dealing with our reserve which is 17 acres in size and about 500m away from the legendary St John's Wood which is one of our last remaining primary, ancient woodlands in Ireland and certainly in Roscommon. It's a very important place and a protected area and it's a lot of hard work to get through so at this point we've managed to source our materials to finish off building our nursery site which is just a couple of raised beds and we're delighted to source those from Ward's in Roscommon, so a local supplier".
