There is a strip of woodland between the lane down to the Cabin Woods and the home field, where the cattle are at the moment. We planted it about 7 years ago for shelter and shade and to link the woods behind the house with the main woodland areas that we planted about ten years ago when we bought the farm.
Narrow strips of woodland don’t generate enough shade to keep the brambles down and the fence along the lane has become overgrown with a big strong crop of them. I’m constantly having to cut them back to allow tractors and my jeep to get down the lane. Their desire is to knit up the bare ground and turn it back into forest.
Brambles eating up the fence.
I decided to go in and do a bit of clearing in order to keep the brambles at bay and also to prune up some of the trees. I wanted to go at a slow pace and enjoy the work. Tough gloves, thorn proof jacket and jeans, loppers, secateurs and a fold up pruning saw. I left the slash hook behind in the shed, as there is a chance at this time of the year that there still might be a nest in use.
Within minutes I was noticed by the most observant of the bullocks.
Our cattle are pets. Three bullocks and three cows. They keep the fields as fields. They provide wonderful dung for the garden. And we just love these wonderful big gentle creatures being here. One of their secret wishes is that the fences that keep them out of the woodlands would magically disappear some day and they could walk in and have their fill of the lush leaves and sweet wild herbs, including brambles. So of course when I started pruning the trees these two spotted the action and guessed there might be something in it for them.
Two of the bullocks enjoying a feast of ash and oak leaves from the prunings.
In times past I’m told that people would collect ash leaves throughout the summer for cattle feed through the winter months. The cattle love them.
Our little black bullock licking up every leaf with his prickly long tongue.
Here on this farm I’m always trying to strike a balance between what we want to achieve, ie beautiful, productive woodlands that offer shelter for the fields and what the birds and creatures who live here want, ie lots of wildness for cover, homes and food. There was no hurry. I wanted to enjoy the work and going slowly like this means I hear any warning call from small birds whose nest I mightn’t have spotted during my preliminary search. Underneath the brambles I noticed the tracks of hares that lead to their little hiding places.
Hidden beneath the brambles, a cosy, leaf-lined sleeping place for the many hares that live on our farm.
Three Hours Later……..
The work I’ve done on this top section of the little strip of woods is quite drastic. I wanted to really blitz that corner and clear out the fence really well. I’ve tried to keep some cover for the birds by heaping the brambles in the centre and linking the piles up with the hare runs. The freshly pruned trees look so bare, but I know even by the end of this growing season the crowns will fill out, settle down and there will be new growth appearing on the floor again.
The fence reappears, trees pruned and brambles heaped up for bird cover.
I’m always astonished by the ever enduring desire of the earth to cover itself. And how efficiently and quickly it does it, when let. When I finished this corner of work I had to go to Carrick-on-Shannon to collect something. On the busy main street, with people walking everywhere, I noticed this familiar little plant growing between a stone wall and the harsh pavement:
Tomato plant sneaking in on a busy pavement in Carrick-on-Shannon
It’s little message of the earth’s abundance offered a cheery counterpoint to all the doom and gloom talk on the radio on the drive to Carrick.
Tags: Brambles, Jan's Farm Forest
One of the subjects that frequently comes up on this blog site is ‘clearfell forestry’. I wouldn’t be such an ‘anti’ if it was kind of 50/50 permanent forest/clearfell plantations, or at least a bit more balanced. It’s just that in the Cavan/Leitrim area where I live, there isn’t anything else. (Well, apart from two small private forests in conversion, – one managed by Paddy Purser and one managed by me.) If you live in Blackrock or similar and don’t know what I mean by clearfell site, here’s a photo below:
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 
Tags: Clearfell sites
Mostly I want to keep this blog site jargon free and low tech, but on this post I thought it might be useful to paste up my own notes which include a few facts and figures for those who are interested in more technical details:
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.
Tags: Holland
Even though I’m back over a week from the Pro Silva Ireland trip to Holland, I haven’t been able to get my head around blogging about it until now. I could say it’s because we saw so much in just two full days, – but that might give the impression that it was a hectic, crammed type of tour. It wasn’t. From the moment we were met at Amsterdam airport by Martjin Boosten, our host, the pace was relaxed and there was a luxurious feeling of having plenty of time. We did see a lot though and it has taken me the week to let it all filter through and get it written up for my own notes.
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.
Tags: Holland, Pro Silva Ireland
Two friends of friends are visiting Ireland from Australia and they’ve been staying with me for a couple of days. We spent Sunday together and I brought them for a visit to the Organic Centre in North Leitrim. Three reasons: – 1) It’s a great place. Against all the odds, the Organic Centre was started over twenty years ago by a few people who had a love of nature and a desire to pass on their knowledge and belief in organic gardening/living. 2) The Grass Roots Cafe there serves yummy wholesome homegrown vegetarian lunches, and 3) because to get from my place to there we travel through beautiful mountain scenery with many inspiring views along the way.
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
Tags: Clearfell sites, Holland
In the area where I live, on the Cavan/Leitrim border, much of the forestry is small scale farmer owned. So it’s easy to see why the event last week run by Teagasc at Ballyhaise Agricultural College in Cavan on small scale harvesting, generated such a huge interest. Like the event in Kilkenny the week before, it was a very well organized, relevant and interesting.
Forestry Advisor Marianne Lyons from Ballyhaise addresses participants on safety issues before we leave the bus for the site
The main focus for the day was on showing farmers the various methods of harvesting timber from their forests at first thinning stage. For me, reading up on practical work like this just doesn’t do it. I need to actually see what is being done and how, in order to grasp something new, so this kind of demonstration day was very useful. The Teagasc staff had planned out various sections of their own forests for thinning and at each section the device (or creature!) to be used was set up and ready to go.
Extracting hardwood thinnings on steep slope using horse extraction.
The first stop was horse extraction by Murray Tree Care Ltd. in Monastrevin, Co. Kildare (Tel: 045 523582). As the timber to be hauled was on a high slope, it was easy work dragging the logs down to the road. (For images of heavy horse work, check out Tom Nixon’s Trojan Heavy Horses. )
Because the workshop was aimed at helping farmers, the majority of other methods of extraction demonstrated were using ordinary farm tractors with simple attachments:
Tractor and grabber dragging first thinnings from conifer plantation
Farm tractor and buck rake carrying logs out.
Most of the action happened in conifers, but there was also a small stand of mainly sycamore to learn from. Information boards at roadside gave simple thinning technique guidelines.
Information board standing at the broadleaved site
If you’ve been following this blog site over the months, you will have gathered that my interest in forestry is in permanent commercial forests. I see all plantations as having the potential to become permanent, evolving forests, yielding timber and at the same time increasing in tree height, diversity and value over time through close-to-nature management (or CCF – Continuous Cover Forestry). Forest plantations that are treated as single species crops to be eventually cut down and replanted, as is currently the teaching here, just doesn’t attract my interest. At Pro Silva Europe forest outings, for example, you just don’t hear the word ‘crop’ used at all. The word speaks of agriculture, not silviculture, and as such it is easy to understand why it is used so widely in this predominantly agricultural country.
So it was refreshing for me when a young man in my group asked if Teagasc were planning to take into account the seedlings that were starting to show themselves on the floor beneath the sycamore trees. Dr. Ian Short of UCD/COFORD was quick to ask if the young man meant a Continuous Cover Forestry approach. Yes, that’s what he meant. A brief discussion took place, but I detected that most of the farmers present weren’t really aware of this approach yet. However Dr. Short was obviously familiar with CCF. He said that his personal view is that he wouldn’t be surprised if clearfelling would be prevented by the time the young stand of sycamore we were looking at reached maturity.
I thought back to that wonderful Pro Silva trip to Slovenia where clearfelling is already forbidden, and has been for many years. If Dr. Short’s hunch is correct, I wondered if we’ll plod along in what to me is such a limited manner until legislation forces change or will we show some initiative and embrace a wonderful forestry opportunity at the earliest possible chance? Time will tell.
Seamus Kelly from Louth demonstrating with his mobile sawmill how logs can be sawn and saved on site.
Another excellent aspect of the day at Ballyhaise was to be found in the shed and yards. There were many useful displays of forestry tools and machinery and others involved in farm forestry. Here above is a mobile sawmill showing how logs can be planked into timber for use on the farm or for sale on site.
Below, Marion and Eltjo Vanderlaan, familiar faces at forestry events throughout Ireland, displaying their Silky Saws for pruning and shaping forest trees. These beautiful saws are so easy to use and often make the difference between firewood and high grade timber.
Marion and Eltjo Vanderlaan with their Silky Saws
No farm forestry event would be complete without an information stand from the Irish Farmers Association. Here is Geraldine O’Sullivan ready and able for answering quesitons about the IFA’s activities.
Geraldine O'Sullivan, IFA Farm Forestry Development Officer at the IFA stand
As I pulled away from Ballyhaise, watching all the various farm jeeps driving off home, I thought of this brave new start at building a forest culture here in Ireland, in this country more famous for its agriculture. Demonstration days like this are so important towards helping that culture develop.
And I thought of the trip I made to Freudenstadt in the Black Forest, Germany with Pro Silva Europe last year, where forestry and timber is so totally integrated into the culture.
Here are a few images to leave you with:
Two farms belonging to two brothers, each with their own commercial forest
Various sizes of homegrown timber air drying ready for use on the farm buildings when it's needed.
These farm forest are highly commercial, bringing in vital revenue to help keep the farm in profit.
Hot tub in the farm garden home made from a single log with simple boiler. - A must for easing out sore muscles of any hard working farmer!
While I was down in Kilkenny last week at the Teagasc forestry event, I visited Cathy Fitzgerald and her small woodland near Borris, Co. Carlow. Cathy is an artist and her husband Martin Lyttle is a sculptor. Cathy has recently made a couple of cute little films about forestry :Burning Brightly & First Thinning – Holly Wood that are really worth viewing.
Cathy Fitzgerald in the recently thinned alder. Look at all the rich flora starting to come into the new light.
Cathy and I worked on “The Local Project Revisited” back in 2006. During this time I visited Holly Wood for the first time. Then it consisted of rather poor sitka spruce that were planted by Martin’s father about 20 years ago.
There were some alder coming in along by the road boundary and I thought they would benefit by some thinning. We marked a few of the alder and Martin cut them out. Cathy and Martin were so inspired by the effect of this simple thinning exercise that they asked me back to mark the rest of the forest the following year.
But Cathy is a natural networker. She invited about ten people from nearby to come and learn about this simple method of thinning and she even filmed the event as part of her ongoing documentation of the evolution of their woodland. Check out her excellent blog: ecoartnotebook. She has loads on forestry and related subjects and it is well worth a browse. Chris Hynes of Lightfoot Forestry was one of the people to come to that impromptu workshop and he carried out the harvesting and extraction of the timber the following year using his iron horse. But there’s no need for me to tell much about the process as it’s all on Cathy’s site.
Cathy is a networker extraordinaire, so the tree marking exercise turned into a documented workshop in her woodlands
It was great for me to see the woods last week and to notice all the changes that the extra light has brought in since the thinning operation. About 20% of the spruce were taken out and this action has really bump started the whole forest to get a move on.
Thinning let new light into the forest which bump started a whole new cycle of growth.
Cathy and Martin built a timber house some years back right inside their woodland. The woods provide a tranquil setting and their house is well screened from the road and very sheltered. They have cleared a small area around the house for a vegetable garden, workshop, sheds, etc. The thinnings have been stacked neatly near the house for firewood for themselves, plus they sold a few trailer loads to help pay for the work.
Cathy and Martin's timber house peeping through the trees. Notice all the bright little ash seedlings dancing into the woods in the new light.
It was Cathy who first encouraged me to start writing down my observations about forests. When I didn’t, she twisted my arm and taught me how to work a blog site. As I said, – she’s a compulsive networker and firmly believes that by sharing our skills etc., the wheel doesn’t have to be re-invented.
As I was driving off along their winding, narrow driveway I wondered if their woodland is called Hollywood because their dog is named Holly or because of Cathy’s film making ventures. I’ll have to sit on that one for a while.
Here's Cathy with one of the hundreds of ash saplings that are coming into her woods. (The umbrella is for the rain, - not the sun. Even though it's called Hollywood, - it's Ireland, not California!
Fifteen year old ash plantation where the demonstration took place.
Last week I travelled down to Inistoige, County Kilkenny to attend the National Forestry Demonstration on Broadleaf Management and Thinning. It was run by Teagasc, Coford and the Forest Service jointly. It was an extremely well organized event and there was a lot of interest. There were mini buses to ferry people to and from the site on rotation. It worked very well.
The first stop was an ash plantation and there was an information board placed at the entrance as we got off the bus, giving details of the site history, soil types, etc:
Information board showing details about ash plantation.
Most of the people attending were farmers who had planted some broadleaved trees on their land. People showed such keen interest to learn how to manage their trees.
During the mid 1980′s I used to travel around the country giving talks and slide presentations on the subject of growing broadleaved trees (no power point then, and actually no young broadleaved plantations either!). I very often came away thinking oh well, we can’t expect farmers to suddenly become foresters over night. The truth of this really struck home again as I stood in the group last week listening to the questions being asked. It’s so great that Teagasc are now providing such valuable courses on managing broadleaves. And it’s so great that COFORD are carrying out research into broadleaves and that they are now grant aided by the Forest Service.
It takes time to learn about growing trees in a country like Ireland whose main land-based income has been derived from agriculture for so long. Teagasc are very much at the ‘coal face’ in helping the farming community make the transition into forestry. Days like this one are free and are very helpful.
Mary Ryan from Teagasc said that in Ireland growing broadleaves is new to everyone and that we only began planting them as forest trees a little over a decade ago. Broadleaves were always seen as purely for amenity, but now they are being encouraged as potentially commercial species. Of course learning is made harder by the fact that there are no mature commercial broadleaved forests to learn from here. We have to either travel or invite in foreign expertise (as we do with Pro Silva Ireland), or try to learn as we go.
Mary Ryan teaching about how to thin the ash plantation.
We were given a brief marking exercise to do, – always very useful when teaching about thinning trees. Nothing like some hands on to help us remember what was learned. And then we were shown an area of the forest that had already been thinned and people were asked to notice the extra light in the forest, compared to the unthinned area.
The group was given a marking exercise to do in the ash plantation
We visited an oak plantation on the same farm. I came away thinking that it’s nothing short of a miracle that there are now 15 year old broadleaved forests that we can stand in and observe and learn how to manage. For Irish forestry to move into broadleaves is a big step and one that is too easy to take for granted.
While the trees were all growing very well, I couldn’t help thinking how poor it looked in terms of biodiversity and forest health with no pioneer species to liven things up and help the oak along. I suppose I’m used to seeing more diverse forests and am not that familiar with plantations of just the one species anymore. Hopefully in time the teaching will be to favour diversity, regeneration and to aim towards permanent forests rather than crops. Many people still think that if you don’t harvest the timber in one fell swoop, then the forest can’t be commercial. But I suppose that learning will take time to evolve too, as will the forests themselves.
Oak plantation on the same farm.
Tags: Teagasc Forest Day
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.
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.
Tags: forest visit, mighty ash, Pro Silva
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