Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to this historical event, but Ireland was well represented by three people from the  PSI committee: Donal O’Hare, Cathy Fitzgerald and Liam Byrne.

The main part of the event that I really regretted not being there for was to see these two friends receiving well deserved recognition for their part in starting Pro Silva:

Pro Silva Europe founding member Hermann Wobst from Lower Saxony, Germany (left) ,receiving his award from European President Prof. Jean-Philippe Schutz from Switzerland at the Slovenian 20th Year Conference

These men have worked in forestry all their lives. In the mid-eighties they and some colleagues took a trip across the border into Slovenia to see for themselves these wonderful, commercial, biologically diverse forests that they had heard about, – and to meet the professor who taught close-to-nature forestry to his students. Out of that memorable visit was born Pro Silva.  To create change in European forestry.  Quite a challenge.

Pro Silva founding member Bela Varga from Hungary, receiving his award from Prof. Jean-Philippe Schutz.

The main emphasis for the organization then was to find ways to work with natural systems in forest management, as they had seen in Slovenia. (Hermann Wobst’s father had been a pioneer of close-to-nature forestry in Lower Saxony)  Their message was heard and Pro Silva has attracted foresters from 27 European countries to date.

But now there is climate change.  A potential crisis of enormous scale for us all. The main message to come out of the conference and workshops in Slovenia was that in terms of forest management, you just can’t get better than what Pro Silva members are doing. It ticks all the boxes more than any other approach.  They got it right. But that now their message urgently needs to go out beyond foresters and into a much wider audience, including politicians, policy makers, the media, etc.

I think until these recent floods in Ireland, the worst on record, most of us were content to imagine that climate change was just an interesting theory.  There are still many people here who say this kind of thing happens all the time. But the predictions are that Ireland will get wetter and warmer.

The Cabin Woods on my farm under water during the floods.

I went canoeing out over the lake during the high waters.  Luckily the Cabin just managed to escape damage.  Our house is up on a hill, as are the cattle sheds and we were very lucky not to be effected by the flooding.

From out in the canoe, the Cabin came this close to being flooded.

But the most heart warming site I saw was in the following photo.  I was out in the canoe, paddling around in my woodlands and noticing as much as I could take in of the astonishing scene with SO MUCH WATER.  And here I saw signs of nature trying to help the situation and showing us the way:

Thousands of alder seeds float on the flood waters, trying to reach higher ground and give support to the new levels of the waters edge.

Clearfell site in Drumshanbo one year after the forest was cut down.

I suppose in the case of Holland, where I visited recently with Pro Silva Ireland, and in many other European countries, the size of clearfell allowed in forestry is less than a hectare, so it’s not really an issue. In Slovenia it is forbidden altogether. But here in Ireland complete forests can be cut down within a week and this practice seems to be most unpopular especially with people who live near them.

However a local friend told me recently that the clearfell site that features so frequently on this blog (above and below) is an absolute picture to look at right now with a profusion of rosebay willowherb covering the ground. And it does look beautiful, don’t you think?

Rosebay willowherb covering the clearfell site with a gorgeous purple mist.

My friend pointed out that after a few years a clearfell site will green up and all the ground flora will return.  The raw look will cover over and it will once again blend in with the surrounding landscapes. He tells me that clearfell sites are usually replanted with the same species and over twenty years or so they will once again take on a foresty look.

I tell him Hey! Come on! I’ve lived in the south Leitrim area for twenty five years. I am well familiar with what happens to forest land once the forest has been cut down.  

So I thought it might be useful (for me anyway!) to clarify that the appearance of the site is not the issue. The issue as I see it is this:  Forests take a long time to evolve.  It’s crazy to cut them down every 40 years and make them start up all over again. A well structured, well managed forest offers all the benefits: timber production; wildlife habitats and nature conservation; soil protection; amenity and tourism benefits and beauty in the landscape. People can walk through them and the experience of being with big trees is uplifting to the human soul. Short term single species even aged forests only offer one species of timber and the soil, instead of being protected is put in jeopardy over time. People can’t walk through them for at least 20 years, and in the case of unthinned forests, ever. There is virtually no ground flora once the canopy closes over. It will never have big trees. You don’t need me to spell it all out. Just take a look for yourself.  Here’s a normal even aged, single species fir plantation in Holland that wasn’t clearfelled.  It was started in the usual way, just like here, only it was let grow on and managed to encourage size variation and species diversity, etc. Timber is harvested every 5 years, ad infinitum. It’s beautiful to be in.

This mixed species forest in Holland with young Douglas Fir regenerating in clumps as the forest evolves.

Highly evolved forests are usually made up of many species and this can mean a variety of timbers are available from them. Ireland still imports all its timber needs that is not spruce, from a variety of countries, including West Africa.  Those are the issues. 

If we want to mature our forests so that they become truly sustainable in every sense of the word, we are going to have to learn to let them grow on. We have a vast area of suitable conifer plantations providing the pioneering stage that is so ideal to start from. We just need to learn to manage them in order to create permanent forests comprising many species as they come in. If we let our forests grow on and keep harvesting timber and managing the forests as is done in at least 27 other European countries (that’s the current number of Pro Silva member countries), the south Leitrim area, for example, would be a wonderland of forest walks.  

The ‘field’ of rosebay willowherb is really beautiful to look at, I think.  But it took 40 years of waiting for the once off harvest of timber that came off the site; you can’t walk on the land at all; and it’s simply not a forest. This, on the other hand, is:

The Pro Silva Ireland group wander back to the bus through tall beech and fir forest in Holland

 And so is this:

Beech and spruce forest in Austria

OK.  Now that that’s off my chest I can get on with reporting on some truly gorgeous forestry that we saw in Holland on the recent Pro Silva trip.  Stay posted

 Het Loo Royal Estate

After a good breakfast we piled into the bus and drove only an hour to our first stop, – the Royal Estate ‘Het Loo’ in Apeldoorn.  We were met by one of the forest managers, Rene Olthof and we were invited in to a lovely timber building where we had coffee and Rene introduced us to the history and make up of Het Loo, using maps.

Forest Manager Rene Olthof talking us through Het Loo Royal Estate with the use of maps of the forest.

Het Loo is a 10,000 ha forest that originally belonged to the King but now is run by the State.  It is divided into three areas of approx 3,000 ha each and managed by three Forest Managers. The yield is 15 cubic metres of Douglas fir per ha per year.  There are 4 deer per 100 ha and Rene considers this as a problem!  There are roe, red and fallow deer, plus wild boar.

‘We made Holland’ he told us, so nature conservation is a very high priority. Profit from timber is also essential and ‘often these two bite eachother.’

In the past much of the forest was coppiced, – sweet chestnut and oak, – but this is no longer practiced and the forests are managed as high forest.  There is some clearfell, but only less than a hectare in size. For the main it is managed as permanent forest.  10% of income from timber is for firewood.  It is sold at present for €45 per cubic metre at roadside in lengths.  Holland, like Ireland, is enjoying good prices for firewood.

First Stop – Douglas Fir Forest

By 11am we were standing in a high forest of beautiful tall, straight Douglas fir.  It is 50 years old, planted in early 1960s. In the last intervention they cut 75 cubic metres per ha which fetched €4000 per ha.

Rene told us there have been five interventions at five year intervals with the first after 20 years.  Each time Rene harvested the higher diameter trees.  There are now 400 stems per hectare in this forest.  The target diameter is 80cm.  He thins by eye, selecting 100 future trees per ha across all size ranges.

Mostly the timber sells as construction timber within Holland, although  recently he sold large diameter 18 metre logs to Germany at a high price.

Notice the lovely variety of stem sizes in this highly commercial Douglas fir forest.

Every country has its own reasons for having forests.  For some, like Ireland, with its relatively low population density, the focus is predominantly timber production. But for Holland, with over 16 million people and no natural forest left at all, a big priority is nature conservation and amenity. Rene Olthof explained to us that the commercial forest on Het Loo Estate pays for the non-commercial areas, such as the extraordinary Badger Mountain Reserve.

I suppose before I go any further I should remind you that we are in Holland here.  By ‘mountain’ what is meant is raised ground.  In the case of Badger Mountain we’re talking 107 metres above sea level!

Badger Mountain is a nature reserve made up almost entirely of beech forest at a very mature stage. There is no intervention here.  The beech forest is being permitted to express itself fully, right though to the ultimate decline of these massive trees.

The Pro Silva group with dead and decaying beech trees

For our group, coming from Ireland with its high emphasis on commercially viable forestry, it was almost inconceivable to see such an area of forest left to nature with no motivation to harvest any of the timber, even as firewood. It was an extraordinary experience.

The forest held  an almost primordial quality. I felt my spine tingling as we walked through the forest. We felt we were witnessing something so rare, – a forest in this day and age allowed to naturally go through all the stages of decay and decline followed by gradual rebirth. 

These fungi slowly consuming this dead stump had a sculptural appearance.

There is often a mis-conception that ‘close-to-nature’ means, – leaving it all up to nature.  No, that is not the case. It’s more to watch what nature does in the forest and try to work along in harmony with that dynamic in order to exploit the benefits of doing so. One of the benefits of letting the forest at Badger Mountain do its thing is that it’s only by leaving some forests alone that we can observe exactly what it is that nature is doing there.

Of course there are many other benefits to leaving it be, not least the effect such a place has on the human spirit. I left with the promise to myself that I’ll get back there for another look some day.

A truly open forest has evolved as many over-mature beech trees have fallen.

I’ll leave it to the two students who accompanied us on the tour, Patrick Moore and Matthew Stuart, to write the full reports, which will be on the Pro Silva Ireland website for all to read before too long.

Henk Bonekamp in Apeldoorn

When Henk Bonekamp started out as Forest Manager of the Municipality he was asked to clearfell seven hectacres of forest per year and replant with Scots pine and Douglas fir.  He became more and more dissatisfied with this approach, deciding it was too wasteful.  Instead he began to manage the forests, working with what was there and what came after thinning, and below you can see the vast difference in the results of his decision:

Faith Wilson and Cathy Fitzgerald stand beside one of the remaining trees from the original plantation. Henk's decision 27 years ago not to clearfell the plantation has resulted in this lovely mixed forest

This started out at the same time and in the same way as the previous picture but was clearfelled and replanted 27 years ago.

Seeing the two forest compartments side by side, on either side of the forest road, had a dramatic effect. In the first site the large trees were felled over time and no trees were planted. In the second site all the trees were cut down in one go and the whole site was replanted again. Two very different approaches with very different results. Needless to say we all preferred the first.

Henk Bonekamp, centre, speaking to the group with his superb forest in the background.

Patrick Moore giving some perspective to the size of the Douglas fir as early regeneration just starts to creep in.

Henk explained to us that there is no need to fuss about getting regeneration.  If the forest is well thinned according to Pro Silva principles, and patience is exercised, it will come.  These Douglas fir forests reached nearly fifty years old before regeneration appeared. And then it appeared in abundance.  Nature seems to know the best time to send in the young trees. And Henk’s patience paid off.  Just look at this vibrant regeneration in the photo below:

Hal Chevasse disappearing into dense Douglas fir regeneration in an older forest.

Angela Coffey and Matt Stuart listen closely while Henk's daughter Susan, also a forester, looks on.

Student Patrick Moore and Forest Manager Jim Simpson from Baronscourt share observations and ideas on the way back to the bus.

It’s coming on these trips with Pro Silva that real quality learning happens. Being in the forest is the place to learn about forestry. It’s all there to see. No need for hugely lengthy descriptions. It becomes obvious. And how fortunate that this family of Europe wide foresters are so willing to share their knowledge so freely.  No need for guarding their invaluable research built up for many years. It’s freely offered.

See what I mean about this being a relaxed trip? Martijn had organized this much needed break in a near by forest park to sip drinks and unwind after a day of fairly intense forest learning.

Of course it being Leitrim and mountain land, we pass through a lot of forestry.

The Glangevlin road on the way to the Organic Centre in North Leitrim

So inevitably the subject of forestry came up (no, I didn’t bring it up, they did if you must know!) The first question they asked was “What’s happened here?” (see photo below)

What's happened here? - asked my Australian visitors.

I asked them what they thought it was and they replied it looked like some sort of waste land. Of course it was a clearfell site, – an area of land where a conifer plantation was planted about forty years ago and the entire thing has been cut down again for the timber. It is a common sight throughout north and south Leitrim and along the border with Cavan, where I live.

Driving over the mountain through Glangevlin you can see the whole cycle of plant, grow on, and fell, sort of like a slow maturing agricultural crop.  Usually the plantations on the mountain are not thinned.  The gate is closed for forty years and then re-opened when the ‘crop’ is ‘ready’ for clearfelling.

Reaforestation after clearfell with the next 'crop' of trees peeping over the horizon

It’s not so much that I am against this approach to forestry, although it does nothing to interest or inspire me. It’s one way, and it seems to work for a lot of people/companies.  It’s just that, having seen so many stunningly beautiful commercial forests in other countries that I’ve visited with Pro Silva, I hunger to see something similar happening here in Ireland. And I’m painfully aware that we import virtually all of our hardwood timbers.  I long to be amongst foresters who see and understand forests in a more holistic way and who practice it in their daily forest management as a matter of course. It’s exciting to be among like minded people learning something of such immense value. Now that does capture my interest.

Multi-dimensional, commercial close to nature spruce and beech forest in Slovenia

So now I don’t have long to wait for another such excursion. Tomorrow, along with others from Pro Silva Ireland, I fly out to Holland for a look at some real good forests.  We will visit a 10,000 h/a estate managed by Pro Silva foresters.  We’ll visit forests in Apeldoorn that combine timber production, recreation and nature management.  And we’ll visit a forest in the polder (reclaimed land) that produces hardwood timber, including hurley ash which is sold to the Irish market. I’m really looking forward to this trip and to sharing about it on localforestlog when I return.

So if you’re getting sick of seeing yet more photos of clearfell sites on this blog, – the reason is that’s what surrounds me in my area, and this is a local forest blog. But hang in there.  Next week you’ll be seeing some delectable photos of real forests from our trip to Holland. I’ll do my best to present all I learn and some of the highlights on the next post.

Jan Alexander with ten year old alder at the Cabin Woods and 14 year old Ben in the background