Eco Eye 14, EP05 - Rethinking Forestry

When some people look at the Irish landscape they just see the greenery that it’s famed for, but when Duncan looks at Ireland’s landscape he sees a conflict for vital resources with the health of the environment at its centre. Land in Ireland has to fit a multitude of uses and demands upon it, from agriculture to transport and production, biodiversity and ecosystem services, not to mention the intrinsic value of the landscape that just can’t be quantified.
The planet can’t survive without forestry; it provides the very air that we breathe. Currently Ireland has the lowest forest cover of all European countries. However, this is set to change and as Ireland moves to increase tree cover we ask is there a new way to think about forestry that is both good for the economy and the environment? Can Ireland expand afforestation and commercial forestry while enhancing and preserving ecosystems?
Duncan and Anja explore what the solutions are for the contest for Ireland’s land and what different types of forestry can offer. Together they will explore what is the future for forestry in Ireland and how that can benefit the environment, employment and the economy.

[@robertclarke7848]

What if we planted a large continuous forested area that ran the length of the country from Cork to donegal in a similar vain to the appalachian trail or Pacific crest trail. It could be used for recreation, to hit our forestry targets and as a massive source of revenue for many towns and villages along the trail. People could come from all over the world to hike the whole thing taking weeks at a time. They would stop along the way at towns to refuel/sleep, giving an injection of tourism to areas that might not have previously had that. Many towns in America would be known as AT or PCT towns as they would use the trails as a massive industry for them. Just a thought.

[@serbkebab2763]

An interesting idea but huge swathes of land in America are owned by the government so they can do what they like. For example, in Nevada the federal government owns 84% of the land. If you tried to implement your idea in Ireland where the vast majority of the land is in private hands, the farmers and holiday home owners would be crying and moaning about people trespassing on "their" land. The Irish are obsessed with owning land and building fences around it so your idea could never work, sadly.

[@mischevious]

@@serbkebab2763 We have to get beyond the idea that we own any of it. All of it is human habitat, to state only the one stakeholder that most humans are likely to care about. Environmental battles in the meantime though are beginning to be won when the rights of the specific ecosystem are evoked. Judges for whatever reason seem inclined to agree that this specific watershed and that specific forest have a right to life. Obviously we’re not going to get a grip on capitalism in time to address the climate emergency. So we need to start working the system for the greater good.

[@pio4362]

As @Serb Kebab mentions, there's a massive difference between a continental, empire-like edifice like the US and ourselves in terms of land ownership. The US state (or "federal government" as they call it) owns so much because it was blatantly seized from its native inhabitants and only partially returned, with not enough colonists to farm it all. In Ireland its heavily fragmented among farmers, whose ancestors were serfs on it to British landlords only a few generations ago, and so there is an emotional attachment to it which @Mis chevious seems completely ignorant of. If you want somewhere reasonable to compare with, try our European neighbourhood, and you might find something possible to recreate.

[@billsmith5109]

@@pio4362 It wasn’t just lack of farmers. Attached is data from just one snow pack monitoring station, about a half mile from the PCT, near a minor knob called Pigtail Peak, in southern Washington State. Those 50 inches of SNWE (snow water equivalent) (11/03/2021) represent 12 feet of snow. As you see, in an average year the last of the snow melts out about July 1. Not prime agricultural weather. Farmers also would have found the area remote. If you Googleearth the location and notice White Pass ski resort and highway, you might think this area would have been accessible. No so much. Until the highway was built ca 1960 there wasn’t even a gravel road over White Pass. Between the Canadian Border and the Columbia River, and the border with Oregon only three passes through the Cascades are kept open during the winter. The growing season at Reykjavik is longer. wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/nwcc/view?intervalType=+View+Current+&report=WYGRAPH&timeseries=Daily&format=plot&sitenum=692&interval=WATERYEAR

[@brendancasey5951]

How wright you are but have you seen the clowns that run this country.

[@irishwanderer4206]

sitting here in 2019 watching this while woodcarving

[@mylesomalley7190]

An in depth examination of the availability of the proposed 300,000 ha would be of interest , under current guidelines it is unlikely to be achieved , at best it will be achieved by planting areas of incrementally reducing sizes that will impact heavily on profitability and diversity .

[@simonwhite5535]

Whoops!..it looked like that tree the lady planted at the beginning of this piece was planted too deep-it more than likely will die.

[@cathnarnia]

MOre information on ProSIlva Ireland and its information on Close-to-Nature continuous cover forestry are available at prosilvaireland.org

[@mirthaacosta5249]

Por favor traducir al idioma español GRACIAS

[@theonewind]

I want to move to Ireland as a forester now

[@brendancasey5951]

Do not be in a hurry as it takes ages to get things done here in Ireland or it never happens, liars I mean politician's in this country know nothing about nature and most do not care .

[@simonmasters3295]

Did you go?

[@theonewind]

@@simonmasters3295 no I did not, but I did get a degree in Ecology and Conservation Biology and am in the process of deciding what I will be doing for a living

[@BrianSmith-nw2jo]

You say that you have acid soil so no hazel RHS says hazel is good in Acid, Alkaline, Neutral