Forests Evolve – You Can’t Plant Them

Yesterday I met a man who agreed to help me work through a new project I’ve been thinking about, to do with close-to-nature forestry of course.  I travelled to Dublin on the train.  We met in Juice, that wonderful restaurant on South Great George’s Street, Dublin. I had never met him before.  He started by confessing he knew nothing about forestry and that he didn’t have that much time. That was OK by me.  I was grateful to meet him and to have a chance to discuss my ideas with him.

I had my little iTouch with me on which I store some photos. I showed him this photo first:

This is a big part of how forestry is done here in Ireland, and it is a part that no one likes. Clearfell, - when the entire forest is cut down to get at the timber.

I spoke about the process involved in getting a forest to this stage: The seed collection; the propagation of the seeds; the lining out of the seedlings; the digging up and bagging of the saplings; the transportation to the site; the site preparation; the planting of the trees; the (sometimes) thinning; the waiting, usually about 40 years and then the cutting down of the whole lot. I told him, “Think agriculture, only long term.”

Then I showed him this photo:

Plantation in Austria being transformed into permanent forest using close-to-nature management.

I pointed out the tall, straight trees in this photo, explaining that these were the trees remaining from the original plantation, and asked him to think of our own plantations before they’ve been thinned. So here is a similar plantation, only it’s been thinned carefully, and not in straight rows, to let in enough light so that the seeds on the forest floor can germinate and grow up.  I explained that then the foresters job is to manage the light by harvesting just enough of the tall trees, but not too many.  In this way the regenerating trees can grow up evenly and straight, without the need for expensive pruning. I asked him to notice all these small saplings, growing away for free. No expensive planting needed.

I think he got it.  He was a really great listener.  He told me that an old school friend had made a beautiful wooden bowl for him from a tree that had fallen in a forest they used to play in as children.  He told me of the silent disappointment of his own children when he had taken them for an adventure to a forest in Wicklow, only to come upon what looked like a war zone, – a clearfell site. When his children asked him what had happened, he had answered  ”I don’t know.” 

He asked me how come Irish foresters had got it so wrong.  I told him they hadn’t got it wrong.  That they have made a fantastic start by establishing forests where none had grown for centuries.  That now we can build on these brave beginnings by working with these plantations as pioneer forests. I told him “Think silviculture.”

We ended up spending nearly two hours talking forestry and re-honing the original idea that had brought us together.

On the way home I watched the landscape moving away from the window of the train.  Flashes of tall, spindly conifer forests that have long passed their date for thinning.  Swathes of wind thrown trees leaning into the plantation and just generally looking like an ugly mess. And everywhere the fresh green leaves of birch trees, that wonderful pioneer species you see so much of  in the midlands, shooting up in abundance in an attempt to show the humans that nature has an order and that by following that order, beautiful forests can evolve over time, just like they’ve done for many years in other countries. Only of course here, three times faster!

This beautiful forest in Austria has been managed by three generations of the one family, turning out valuable, high quality timber while at the same time providing an enchanting habitat for wildlife and for humans to enjoy.

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Tags: Close-to-nature, Following nature's lead