The Lakeshore Road at Garadice
When the County Council tarred the quiet lane that runs along beside the lake shore at Garadice many trees were knocked down, damaged or pushed over by the machine driver and rammed up onto the low bank, causing even more damage to remaining trees.
Grand Old Oak Tree At Garadice
For about 15 years I have walked along the shores of this lake. The fact that it is beautifully wooded, being the main reason. These remnant woodlands probably fall into the ‘ancient’ category. There are some huge old grandfather oaks standing firm along the lakeshore and throughout the small woodland. It’s wonderful to be among these old trees.
All the other species are there: willows, alder, birch, lots of hazel, holly and ash. But in all the years of going walking there, I had never noticed any seedlings. No regeneration to speak of, other than a few ash saplings breaking through the brambles here and there.
A couple of years ago several big limbs were torn off some of the big oak trees during a fierce January storm. This let in some light through the dense canopy but the new shafts of light had not been enough to bump start any germination. The forest floor remained void of seedlings.
Oak Seedlings
But that was before the road was tarred. When the road was tarred and quite a few of the roadside trees were knocked down, this spring little groups of oak seedlings started to appear on the forest floor. Ash seedlings are also coming in, as are hazel. The whole forest has benefited from the side-light created by these roadside trees being tossed.
I thought back to the first ‘away’ trip of Pro Silva Ireland to Lower Saxony in Germany in 2001. Our host, the wonderful Prof Hans Otto, explained patiently that regeneration will come only after a disturbance of some kind. In nature these disturbances, or catastrophes as he called them, usually take the form of wind blown trees, or insect damage or some form of disease hitting certain species of trees. Increased light results from the gaps created in the canopy. The younger trees growing in the understorey benefit from the extra light, and so do the seeds lying in wait beneath the surface of the soil. And then bling! – Regeneration occurs.
This then, is the art of *silviculture. The forester must harvest enough timber to protect the canopy and to let in enough light in order to keep the forest growing at a good rate and regenerating itself.
So now I have to take back all the nasty things I thought about the County Council and the machine driver. Unknowingly they created a disturbance/catastrophe that kick-started a whole new generation of small forest trees under the protective canopy of this much loved local woodland.
Ash saplings benefiting from new light caused by gap in canopy
*The word ’silviculture’ has been defined as “The art and science of perpetuating the woods and forests for the service of man for all time.” Richard St.Barbe Baker
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