Scots pine in the Burren - has it always been there?

Burrenbeo December 2019 Tea Talk on the history of Scots pine with particular focus on the Burren. Speakers : Prof Fraser Mitchell and forester, Bernard Carey.
Scots pine was one of the first trees to arrive in the Burren after the last glaciation. It dominated for a while and although it subsequently declined it appears to have hung on in most locations until about 2,000 years ago. This history of Scots pine in the Burren is consistent with other parts of Ireland where this tree species is considered to have gone extinct. Scots pine has been widely planted over the last 300 years and once again makes an important contribution to our landscape. How could such a dominant tree species have gone extinct while others have not? Could some Scots pine trees have survived the last 2,000 years in isolated locations? How could such survivors be detected in the landscape today?
These questions are addressed by reviewing the history and prehistory of Scots pine in Ireland with a particular focus on the Burren. Special attention is paid to records from Rockforest where Scots pine appears to have maintained its continuity over the last 2,000 years. This leads to the conclusion that the Rockforest pines are a native stand.
Fraser Mitchell is Professor in Quaternary Ecology in the Botany Department at Trinity College Dublin. His current research focuses on the causes and consequences of long-term environmental change which he has undertaken throughout Ireland but also in UK, Spain, Poland, USA, Australia and Thailand.
Practicalities of cultivating native Scots Pine
With Bernard Carey
Bernard Carey, with special permission from NPWS, has been collecting and cultivating seeds of the small population of the original native Scots Pine trees that have survived in the Burren from before ice age to this day. He will talk briefly about the ins and outs of this fascinating project.
Bernard Carey comes from a mixed farm (Dry stock, Dairy, Cereals, potatoes and a few hens!) in the midlands. Bernard has qualifications in Horticulture, Microbiology and Forestry. He has been involved in Forestry for over two decades as a practicing Forester here in Clare and runs a plant nursery in Mountshannon, Co. Clare where he grows both native trees, wetland plants, and hedging. More recently he along with his colleague Brian Tobin completed the first Irish Ecosystems Services of trees in Mountshannon Village using i-Tree an American Forest Service software for evaluating ecosystem tree services. The report can be found at www.mountshannonarboretum.com