Redwood trees in California
Darragh Murphy asks “Why is just 10 per cent of Ireland covered in trees?”
Crann – Trees for Ireland is a voluntary organisation whose aim is to promote the planting of trees, especially those native to Ireland. A joint initiative, of which I am the project group chairwoman, in partnership with Birr Castle, is Giants Grove (giantsgrove.ie), the planting of a thousand redwood trees in the grounds of Birr Castle in Co Offaly.
Redwoods were once native to Ireland, and at Birr we are bringing them “back home”, creating the largest plantation of giant and coastal redwoods outside of California.
Crann’s patron, President Michael D Higgins, said at the launch of Giants Grove, “The planting of these mighty trees, here, at the heart of Ireland, is not just an extraordinary silvicultural undertaking. It has been devised to symbolise, too, the abiding bonds that unite those who have passed away and their loved ones and the equally strong bonds through which Irish people all over the world are connected to this island”.
He further said: “We all know how vital trees, forests, and woodlands in general are to our collective future”.
These redwoods will be growing for the next thousand years, creating the perfect ecosystem, of which we can all be proud.
Clara Clark,
(Chairwoman, Project Management Group, Giants Grove),
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Trees and the long-term view (Irish Times letters page)
Pic: Lonely Planet
Thats a great initiative. Fair play to them.
Oh lovely.
I would never have guessed these used to be native !
There’s a new “did you know” for us!
yes !
this day just keeps getting better!
Without getting into the 800 years and all that. I suspect a lot of Irish wood ended up in the Royal Navy over the centuries..
Doesn’t stop people from planting them now mind.
well if Bertie Ahern still has a job with Coilte, who knows where that wood would end up..
It will take hundreds of years and Leo will not be able to see the wood for the trees
Now I know why you use the word “dose”
And many of the planks joined the public sector as well
But seriously I did not know redwood trees were native to Ireland
Apparently during the height of the British empire whole forests were decimated all for the navy both in the UK and all over the empire
The Brothers taught us that the forests were cut down by Liz to make ships to fight the Spanish Armada.
Personally I’m skeptical about just how much of Ireland was covered in forest.
I’m sure that it was all covered by forests at one stage, but that it was cleared for agriculture over the centuries.
I’m sure that the Brits chopped down some trees, but I think that the narrative “the Brits stole our trees!!!” is a little too neat and simplistic.
Like it
Like it a lot
Good luck with it
Should be ready just in time for when society finally starts to rebuild after the cataclysm.
hopefully it will be some other species, I think we’ve caused too much damage already, let something else do better.
Yay for Ewok-like tree houses!
if we burn them then our greenhouse emissions go up and apparently trees contribute 30% of the methane
Which contributes to greenhouse gasses
So lads we need concrete
Not trees
Only joking
“silvicultural”
I don’t care how well read he is there’s no way he didn’t have to look that one up
Didn’t the british use Ireland’s trees to build their navy?
And then Bertie Ahern tried getting his paws on the rest.
Hmmm. Getting there second is also good.
It’s the taking part that counts
I’ll hold you to that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9LrCT1ur0
I KNEW I packed that black leather bikini for a reason !
Why is just 10% of ireland covered in trees?
Maybe because the other 90% isn’t?