Pro Silva Ireland Forest Visit – Curragh Chase

Beautiful Curragh Chase Forest Park near Foynes, Co. Limerick.

While most of the Pro Silva Ireland (PSI) visits are to private forests, the one last Saturday 25th April was to a Coillte owned forest, Curragh Chase Forest Park in Foynes, County Limerick and it was a real quality day.

The PSI group at the first stop for the day. Notice new extraction path where the thinned timber was taken out of the forest recently.

As close-to-nature forest management is new to Ireland, there is no one to teach us here.  PSI policy is to invite two experienced foresters from abroad to all of our home events, – we hold two each year. This is a very enjoyable aspect of our work and is also absolutely essential if we are to move beyond the usual 40 year rotation clearfell/replant forestry approach towards permanent, self perpetuating forests like those PSI visit in other countries. The discussions that arise in the forest is where the learning lies.

Our guests at Saturday’s event were Phil Morgan from CCFG UK and Max Bruciamacchie from Pro Silva France. Max and Phil have been working in Curragh Chase forest over the last few years on the AFI project. (More about that on a future post.)

Phil Morgan (far left) and Max Bruciamacchie having discussions while Marie-Christine Scott listens and Matthew Stuart takes notes.

I’m not going to write a review of the day, as this is just a blog post.  There will be a comprehensive review available soon on the PSI website.  But I just have to tell you the aspects I thought were great and about my favorite lesson for the day, which has been such a long time coming.

It was great that Sasha Bosbeer brought seven students from GMIT and it was great to see their interest. Here the group gathers in for a discussion on the effect of recent thinning in this section of the forest.

It was great to see people standing up to their knees in naturally occurring sycamore and ash saplings and great to hear discussions of how best to manage it.

It was great to see people standing out in the rain at the end of the day shaping the very future of Irish forestry by their explorations and it was great to see the openness and enthusiasm of our Coillte hosts. From left Sasha Bosbeer (GMIT) Phil Morgan (CCFG & SelectFor), Padraig O'Tuama (Coillte) and Brandan Lally (Coillte)

But for me, the best stop was the last one.  This was a clearfell site that was subsequently planted with Norway spruce.  For whatever reason, nothing was done. Well, nothing was done by the foresters, that is.  But while the foresters backs were turned nature snuck in and millions of ash saplings moved in and took over.  Gerry Murphy (Coillte Regional Manager) estimated 10,000 per hectare.

Norway spruce extracted from the forest, allowing the ash to grow on.

For over twenty years I’ve been turning up to various forestry events in Ireland listening to people only discussing how to grow sitka spruce.  I’ve attended many lectures and seminars where Forest Service staff and private foresters have explained that hardwoods take 80 – 100 years to show any economic return.  The emphasis was usually on oak and beech.  Ash was dismissed as being a weed species and when it came up in conversation it was usually on how to eradicate it from conifer plantations.  

Cutting from the Farmer's Journal in July 2002. I remember being at that event and going home thinking northing would ever change and ash, this wonder tree, would always be plantation grown - which rarely works, - or dismissed as a weed.

But I was wrong. Seven years later here we were standing in a young forest where ‘volunteer’ ash was being given a chance to show itself.  It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the foresters and the interest from participants. I sang in the car all the long drive home  (Don’t worry, I was on my own!)

Just look at the density of the ash that came in to push out the spruce.

Coillte Forest Manager Brendan Lally explained that because of  a very healthy firewood market at present, it was possible to thin the ash at no cost. This was always a problem in the past, but just at this moment the demand for firewood is very strong.

After thinning, the ash is now starting to straighten and find its direction.

Anyone who has been following this blog site over the months will know that ash is my favourite tree in terms of Irish forestry.  It is very willing to come in and perform, certainly in forests that I see and manage in my area.  It grows more vigorously than it does in other European countries and its timber is more durable.  It attracts a variety of markets from a very early stage. If ash were given the chance I think it could be the tree that would enable us to afford to ‘bring back the mighty oak’ in that there is already a strong demand for ash timber (we import most from the US) and home grown ash cannot supply demand. 

Irish homegrown ash used in shelving, doors, skirting board and architrave.

In many Irish conditions, ash comes in after pioneer species like alder or sitka spruce have colonized the ground, and following on its heels comes oak. It is not a tree that does well planted first and requires expensive pruning when grown as a single species plantation.  But it grows straight and true when in a forest where the light is managed to its liking. Also, the problems that arise when ash comes in on a clearfell site, ie in such vast numbers that early thinning is a costly problem, – under a canopy of tall trees it comes in more sparsely and grows more evenly.

Sparsely nature-sown ash seedlings coming into the dappled light under the forest canopy.

I love being part of Pro Silva Ireland, and therefore Pro Silva Europe. It’s by meeting like minded foresters and visiting the forests they manage that it has been possible for me to find my element and to have the confidence to know that change is possible.

This year’s away trip with PSI is to Holland in June.  There are still a few places left, so check it out on the website if you want to join us.

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Tags: forest visit, mighty ash, Pro Silva