The Pro Silva Ireland committee (without their Chairman!!), along with the forest owners, did a fantastic job organizing every detail of both the evening lecture and the forest open day.  You can read about it on the Pro Silva Website. The lecture by Prof. Jurij Diaci from Slovenia on the Friday night was well attended and the following day saw a big gathering of people at Cloragh Farm Forest in Wicklow.

The day also saw the launch of Pro Silva Ireland’s new Forest Policy Document, which I’d have loved to have been there for. (It’s on the website, so do take a read.  It’s really good.)

PRO Cathy Fitzgerald kindly visited me in hospital the next day to show me the photos, pass on the greetings and tell me about the two events. It was just great to hear all about it. Everyone I’ve spoken to since remarked that not just was there such a good attendance (70 to 80 people), but that at each forest stop everyone gathered in quietly to listen carefully to the invaluable discussions and to learn as much as possible from our two guest ‘experts’ about this dynamic new (new to Ireland that is!) approach to forest menagement.

Prof. Dr. Jurgen Huss from Germany and Prof. Dr. Jurij Diaci from Slovenia. - PSI guest 'experts' on the day.

Everyone I spoke to also told me of the great weather conditions (even though there was such a crowd, a megaphone wasn’t needed because there was not a breath of wind so everyone could hear) AND about the wonderful hospitality shown by our hosts, Geoffrey and Lucy Tottenham. I missed that too!!

There are great benefits from being part of a European federation of forests, as Pro Silva is. Not least, you get to meet the leading experts in close-to-nature/CCF forestry from all over Europe, and invite them over to help us to learn how to do it here.  Plus, we get invited over to see their forests. (Check out the PSI website for details of the trip to Hungary next month.  Still a few places available.)

There has been quite a lot of talk since about the Pro Silva day in Wicklow, and about Prof. Diaci’s lecture the evening before, and about the new Forest Policy Document that was launched on the day. It’s let me see that the interest in this exciting subject is growing, and when it comes to Irish forestry, many people really do seem to be adopting a change of view.

White wonderland. - Scene from the window.

For the last four weeks we have experienced amazing weather for Irish standards. Everything frozen and white.  The trees looked so beautiful.  It brought many hardships with it, and many of us had to change the way we usually did things. For us on the farm, filling water for the cattle (and for neighbour’s cattle) became the main occupation for many days.

One of our cows in her cozy shed, waiting for water to be fetched from the lake.

How quickly the lake edge froze over again after we had smashed through it to draw water.

Refrozen ice at the lake edge.

We took time out to walk on the lake when it was so solid.  We saw foxes and hares out running on the lake, but too quick for my camera.

Gabriel rambling back across the lake.

For me, apart from the hardship of extra tasks, it was a special time of pause for reflection  Not just about the year ahead, but also about the wonder of it all.  How just a few more degrees, one way or the other, can make such a huge difference to our world. 

The Pro Silva group in discussion in the forest at Baronscourt, County Tyrone

The long awaited visit of Pro Silva Ireland (PSI) to Baronscourt Estate near Newtownstewart, County Tyrone was well worth the wait. In keeping with PSI tradition, two foreign experts were invited over to Ireland to join us on the day.  Brice De Turckheim, a forest owner and forester with many years of experience in close-to-nature management and one of the founding members of Pro Silva Europe , came from Alsace on France’s eastern border adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. Phil Morgan is an independent forest manager from Wales and works with Selectfor. He is an active member of Pro Silva Europe through the CCFG in the UK and he is forestry consultant at Baronscourt. Phil is a fluent French speaker and translated for Brice on the day. Between them Brice and Phil fielded our many questions with such clarity and the ease that comes with years of time spent in forests.

Sitka spruce regeneration moving in after severe wind throw 8 years ago.

Baronscourt has been the home of the Duke of Abercorn’s family since 1612. The Estate woodlands extend to approximately 1,450 hectares of which approximately 300 hectares are leased to the NI Forest Service and the remainder are managed in-hand by the Estate’s Head Forester, Jim Simpson. In 2001, following a trip with Pro Silva Ireland to Lower Saxony, it was decided to discontinue clear-felling the in-hand woodlands and instead transform to continuous-cover/close-to-nature. A quarter of these woodlands are now thinned each year and the stops included visits to woodlands that have been thinned twice with the intention of retaining tree cover in perpetuity. The presence of Japanese sika deer and Rhododendron ponticum provide significant management issues and lengthy discussions ensued on the day.

Brice De Turckheim arrived in the dark the night before.  He needed only a few minutes to observe his surroundings at the first stop before answering questions. His first observation was that ‘this is a wind-managed forest’. One of the main deciding factors of the Estate to change their management to ccf/close-to-nature was the incidence of windthrow in their even-aged conifer plantations.

Notice the size variation of the regeneration. You can imagine how much more stable this forest is becoming as its structure is allowed to develop.

While Baronscourt is predominantly made up of ‘sensible sitka’ at present, the owners are not attached to trying to keep the estate as pure sitka.  As broadleaves seed into the forest, they are favoured because they are so in the minority. But that will change over time. Ultimately it is quality of timber and forest health that will guide the forest management here.

This area, originally planted with Scots pine, was hit by Hurricane Debbie in 1964. Southern beech, birch, oak have seeded in.

The presence of deer is a big issue at Baronscourt, especially of course for the broadleaved species.  Some areas have been fenced to exclude the deer and here we see again the reality of what the presence of high deer numbers in a forest effects:

Lush regeneration of many species happily growing inside the deer exclusion fence while outside the fence is bare.

As at many of the forest trips organized by Pro Silva in Ireland, the subject of log sizes came up.  In ccf/close-to-nature management the aim is to only fell large trees, as they are worth more and of course the overall increment of the forest is higher. The Irish sawmills have adapted to suit what is offered for sale, so in Ireland what is offered is small dimension (by European standards) logs.  Estate Manager Robert Scott told us that they are lucky to have a mill nearby that operates a ban saw and can take large logs.

Brice gave a wonderful response to this subject.  He said that man has no control over nature but has control over technology.  (You simply can’t argue with that statement.) Therefore adapt the technology to both serve the forest and to harvest timber wisely.  Growers must create big trees and then the mills will sort out the technology needed to mill them. Foresters need to have vision for the future to grow big trees, he said.  If you harvest small trees you must harvest in larger groups and the larger the group the less diversity comes to the forest. So there is less disturbance to the forest if you just select the large trees and then the forest becomes more stable and less at risk of wind. There were many wonderful such offerings from Brice and Phil during the day as they shared their knowledge and experience with us.

From left: Estate Manager (and former Chairman of PSI) Robert Scott, Phil Morgan, Brice De Turckheim and Baronscourt Forest Manager Jim Simpson

I love that Pro Silva brings to Ireland foresters from countries where there is an unbroken forestry culture for hundreds of years. We are just beginning to grow a forest culture here and need to somehow develop this long term view.  We cannot do that on our own. We need the help of others who have the culture, the tradition and the knowledge.

We stopped at another forest area where the wind had felled a huge gap in 1998, leaving only a few large trees still standing.   I remembered fondly when PSI had it’s first forest trip to Baronscourt in 2001 when our guests had been Prof. Hans Jurgen Otto from Lower Saxony and Talis Kalnars, now deceased, from Wales.  At that time this site was bare of trees and the question from Robert Scott and Jim Simpson was ‘Do we plant?’  A resounding ‘No!’ had been the reply from our two foreign experts. ‘Just wait and see what comes in.’  I remember us all looking doubtfully at this huge area of bare, grassy ground.

The same area, 8 years later, is now thick with wind-firm self sown trees.

But here it is eight years later, teeming with bright young self-sown trees.

Brice and Phil spoke about the importance of keeping the remaining tall trees. They are the strong ones that withstood the storm winds.  Their presence will help with the stability of the entire forest into the future. You must manage for diversity and continue to be directed by the forest itself, he said.

On our way back to our cars, we stopped on a high place to recap on the day.  Looking out over the increasingly diverse and lush forest landscapes that is Baronscourt Estate we could see in the distance forests managed by the Forest Service. They had a sad, almost agricultural appearance with their tall crop of sitka offering up such enormous potential, and the tell tale bare ground of the clearfelling practice that will soon sweep them all away.

Meanwhile in the background, the 'same old same old' of even aged conifers carve up the landscapes with their hard lines as they wait to be felled completely.

We received a warm welcome and wonderful hospitality from the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn. I couldn’t really find the words to express to them the significance of the step they and their son Lord Hamilton, have made in this leap of faith eight years ago to try something that had not been tried here. They didn’t do it in a nervous, small way.  They saw the sense of it through the trips with Pro Silva and they took up the recommendations and applied them to the whole forest estate. It is wonderful to see, and we’re told we’re welcome back, so look out for future PSI visits there over the years.

I can’t finish this post without mention of the Pushkin Trust project that the Duchess has been working on since its launch in 1987. Trust endeavours to unite children, their parents and educators, north and south, in the common bond of creativity. Take a look on the link, – it is so inspiring.

The Pushkim House built entirely from timbers grown on the Estate

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.

While I haven’t explored the area that much, having only a bicycle to get around on, I have explored the foreshore trees by means of the wonderful bicycle track that runs for about 5 miles along the coastline.  These magnificent trees are the remnants of native woodland that once covered the entire area.

Magnificent Queensland Blue Gum growing along the foreshore at Hervey Bay

Over the years I’ve watched as the bicycle track has been built and extended; new playground areas developed; paved picnic areas; new toilet blocks; garden beds and other landscaping; resting seats; rubbish collection areas; and recently even fitness equipment.

The cycle path along the foreshore weaves its way through the trees

Many thousands of local people and visitors frequent the foreshore every year.  It’s always a hub of activity, especially near the main restaurant/shopping areas, and I’ve marveled at the way the trees and natural areas have been protected and how they have survived such constant crowds of people and pets. The trees are given priority as the main feature. I suppose in this climate that’s understandable. When it gets hot here, it gets REALLY hot.  Shade is vital for the people who come to enjoy the area.

Children playing in one of the enclosed play areas in the shade of a big fig tree on the foreshore.

However, twenty years ago, when I first started coming here, I was concerned that the majority of trees now stood on their own.  The shrub layer that no doubt included naturally regenerating young trees and the whole spectrum of native plants, had been removed and the trees were growing on bare lawn.  I know from experience that bare ground or lawn under trees spells their eventual decline and that the end result over time would be a very exposed foreshore. I noticed tree planting had been carried out in some places, but again, experience tells me that planted trees will not stand up to the kind of storms that the Hervey Bay area often gets.  Only naturally occurring trees have the track record to stand up to tropical storms and cyclones, as occur in these parts.

Native trees regenerating in the fenced Restoration Area

So to my foresters eye, by far the most impressive recent development has been the addition of a newly erected fence that has been beautifully signed “Restoration Area”.  I’ve watched each year since the fence went up with keen interest to see if the bare ground beneath the trees would show signs of forest regeneration. Sure enough, after only about three years, there are now thousands of small saplings starting to appear and the whole area within the fence is taking on the look of a lush, natural forest.

I was so excited this year to see what a success it has been that I contacted the Fraser Coast Regional Council and asked to meet whoever was in charge of this project of forest restoration. To my delight Coastal Management Officer Rod Buchanan and Community Environment Officer Chris McCarthy agreed to meet me on site. They were able to answer a lot of my questions and we had a really interesting conversation about the ingenuity of nature in perpetuating and caring for forests.  Chris visited Ireland a few years back and he did some voluntary work with Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland. He told me that he had been quite startled to find out that Ireland’s native woodlands were down to 1.2%.

Rod Buchanan and Chris McCarthy standing in knee high Coastal Cypress Pine seedings

Meeting on site meant that I could find out what the different species were and also learn more about what nature was up to within these small strips of forest. There it all was to see, laid out for us to learn from. The very same forest dynamic can be observed here intropical Queensland as what I’ve seen throughout European close-to-nature forests. 1) A gap in the canopy. 2) In come the pioneer species, naturally regenerating. 3) Followed by sub-climax and climax species. 4) The cycle is repeated ad infinitum.

A carpet of Coastal Cypress Pine seedlings with one fast growing Queensland Blue Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) shooting up towards the light. .

I still get so excited to see this orderly system of regeneration and renewal occurring. The sheer brilliance of Nature compared to the clumsy attempt of the human being.  Simple yet complex.  Seemingly chaotic, yet utterly ordered and in sequence. How is it that we still get the whole thing so messed up when the example of how to do it is laid out by the expert for any eye to see?

Of course Chris and Rod also pointed out the drawbacks they’re having with this project that hadn’t occurred to me.  Mainly in the form of complaints from the public.  People see the fence and are worried that they won’t have full access to the beach.  Some think it’s a backward step letting all this ‘scrub and rubbish’ grow back in parts of the foreshore.  Some complain that it will harbour snakes and other native wildlife.  Others just think it looks neglected and that it is the Regional Council’s way of cutting back costs on mowing and landscaping.  Of course as these complaints come in to the Council Office,  it puts pressure on Rod and Chris and there is even talk that the project could be scrapped.

I had already written a letter about the success of the exclusion areas into the local papers complimenting the Regional Council on their farsighted approach to foreshore protection.  Don’t know what else I can do except give encouragement to the two lads to whom the project obviously means a great deal.

For twenty years I’ve been coming here to visit my parents, and each time I’ve witnessed destruction of trees and nature on a fairly massive scale.  This small fenced in area that excludes human activity and allows a tiny space for nature to do its thing is the only positive sign I’ve seen of hope for a more balanced approach.

I remember reading a few years ago in the local paper that Hervey Bay was the fastest growing area in Australia. Read that last line again so that it really sinks in. Can you even begin to imagine the impact that has had on nature, – on trees and wildlife?

Australian magpie, two butcher birds and a noisy minor. The wild birds are learning to adapt to a built up environment. They've suffered massive habitat loss in the last 20 years.

Given the chance, I know in time these fenced forest areas will more than prove their worth to the local houses and businesses along the foreshore for the shade and protection they offer. – And of course they are already becoming little mini-sancturaries for the local wildlife that has suffered such habitat loss throughout the area as Hervey Bay’s population has grown so rapidly in recent times.

Brightly coloured lorikeet. Their wild and raucous song fills the air at dusk as they flock into the foreshore trees to roost each evening.

I’m out in Australia for the month of March.   Travelling by train up to Northern Queensland I pass by miles of natural forest, or ‘bushland’.  I find myself thinking about my ancestors. One of my great grand fathers was a farmer and a sawmiller.  Another cleared the land by ‘ring-barking’ (figure it out for yourself) acres of land for farming. At the time that was how it was done. My great grandfather’s farm was a ‘model’ farm where settlers from all around came to learn how it was done. There were very many sawmillers throughout the country at the time of the early European settlers.

As usual trees are on my mind and train travel oils the cogs of my mind.  I let my imagination drift out into the landscape I’m passing through.  Imagine if our ancestors had asked themselves different questions when they moved into the forests of the world.  For example the questions that the early European ‘explorers’ of Australia obviously asked themselves were “How can we best get our hands on this magnificent timber and exploit these fantastic old forests for our own benefit?”  It is not speculation that these were the questions they asked themselves, – it is recorded in the very landscapes that I’m now moving through. You only have to open your eyes to see that this was the case.  The forest cover is now down two thirds and the vast majority of the forest trees are small.  Do the sums. I know, it’s not just Australia. For whatever reasons, so many developed countries, including Ireland, are equally deforested.

We have inherited these denuded landscapes.  We live amongst them and think it’s normal. We have also inherited the very questions that were asked by our ancestors and some of us approach forests in the same manner as people did 200 years and more ago. The slash and burn/clearfell approach.  We’re still asking questions of ‘what’s in it for us’, only now we can leave out the ‘magnificent’ and ‘fantastic old’ when it comes to the forests. What we grow now are just plantations.  Nothing magnificent or fantastic or old about them. To my mind that is.  It’s hard when you come up against the same old same old when you’ve seen another way and found other questions that lead to far better results. Mostly it’s just greens on one side and commercial forestry on the other. Dug in. Entrenched.

Typical Queensland 'bush' or forest, well picked over long ago for the best trees.

Perhaps the swing of the pendulum is the way of evolution.  In that I mean that at a time when the forests of the world have been clear felled to such an extent that the very climatic conditions  we need in order to live here are being disrupted, solutions are beginning to surface. Or at least more highly evolved questions are emerging.

What if our ancestors had asked questions like:

How can we safeguard these fantastic old forests while at the same time speed up the rate at which they produce this magnificent timber?

What is the sustainable harvest and what percent of what species can we harvest without negative effect on the ecosystems.  How often can we come back?

What number of big old trees per acre do we need to leave behind to maintain biodiversity of fauna and flora and to safeguard the forest?

What areas of these forests should we set aside as nature reserves, – learning places we can refer to if we go wrong?

How can we extract the felled timber without causing damage to young trees and forest soils?

What ways can we use this timber for maximum return and with minimum waste?

How can we find out how these fantastic old forests make such magnificent timber?   How can we replicate what they do?

So I’m sitting on this train bound for northern Queensland, thinking of these things and having immense waves of gratitude for those older forestry friends who started up Pro Silva. Only for them I would never have known to ask such questions as these in my own forestry work and to find some of the answers.  For example I used to think the only way to get broadleaved trees back was to plant them. I didn’t know that if questions like the above were applied to spruce plantations, for example, the result could, over time, be something nearly as wonderful as the old growth forests we have lost. I’ve been so immensely lucky to meet such foresters and to visit many forests with Pro Silva Ireland in some of the 27 countries that are now affiliated.  To see forests where these questions have been formulated and answered and are now being applied is truly inspiring.  Profitable, viable forests.  Sustainable in the true sense of the word.  And well,- magnificent, fantastic and old.

Close to Nature forest in Freudenstadt, Germany, with all age classes of trees present and many species.

Our current approach to forestry results in images like this one at Drumshanbo

I am certain that if forest owners here knew there was another approach to forestry than the one currently practiced, they would embrace this new approach and would eagerly begin to implement the management principals into their own forests.  As current Chairman of Pro Silva Ireland, I can see that there is a gradual increase in people coming to our field trips and that once they get a grip about what is being shown, their interest is sustained and their enthusiasm for the subject grows.  It is very exciting to think of the possibilities that are here for Irish forestry if only we would begin to see these sitka spruce plantations that we have as the first stage in forest evolution rather than as a crop to be felled and re-sown.

Tonight I was reading through the mouth watering itinerary for the 2009 Pro Silva Europe Conference that will be held in Slovenia this September. The introduction is really excellent and worth copying here:

Background: Sustainable management of forest ecosystems for the future is becoming one of the most important, yet difficult tasks for societies due to growing environmental problems on one hand, and increasing needs for energy, raw materials, recreational functions, biodiversity conservation and environmental services on the other. Close-to-nature forestry is one of the most important tools for bridging contrasting demands on forests. In this field Europe has a long tradition and many well established practices. These practical examples demonstrate that conserving and restoring forest biodiversity can be combined with management for social and protection functions, moreover all this can be achieved with reliable economic returns and with lowest possible ecological footprint. Pro Silva Europe is a federation connecting foresters, forest owners and forests representing this type of management on a European scale (www.prosilvaeurope.org). 

In recent years close-to-nature forestry is becoming more and more recognised by public and NGO’s. However, the percentage of managed forests in this way in Europe is growing relatively slowly. Close-to-nature forestry is often not appropriately acknowledged by governments or included in the legislature. Moreover, in spite of documented success, the close-to-nature forestry has a limited support from established forestry science. This discrepancy between many excellent practices and relatively low influence on the global forestry issues could be attributed to many reasons. Close-to-nature forestry is a complex management paradigm – not easy to communicate, it is labour and brain intensive, is often incorrectly considered as an obstacle for mechanisation, furthermore, economic returns are evident on the long turn. 

There are many misconceptions about what close-to-nature forestry is.  I hope over the coming months to dispel a few of the myths about it.  One of the things it is about is natural regeneration, although this happens as an effect rather than a cause. Meanwhile, just feel secure in the knowledge that while you’re reading this post there are millions of ash seedlings along the edges of plantations throughout the country just biding their time until enough forest owners notice that herein lies a valuable future commercial timber species that, given enough light, will come into the shelter of sitka spruce plantations and will pay its way.

Ash seedling patiently waiting for us to get some sense.

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