Glenealo Valley was legally protected as a national nature reserve by the Irish government in 1988. The reserve is primarily an open valley set within the Wicklow Mountains, with a large plateau area of peatland and mixed heathland. The area was the site of a former mine, which was closed in the 1950s. A population of feral goats live in the area, descended from the goats the miners left behind in the valley when the mine was abandoned.