Really sad to see how little forest we have. We had 70-80% forest coverage until the Brits deforested Ireland and used the wood for boat building but we should have gotten our shit together by now and reforested.
by Gentle_Pony
Really sad to see how little forest we have. We had 70-80% forest coverage until the Brits deforested Ireland and used the wood for boat building but we should have gotten our shit together by now and reforested.
by Gentle_Pony
36 comments
The only thing I miss in Ireland, forests :*(
% increase in forested area in the last 120 years?
Ireland #1 at 1100%
We’ve gone from 1% to 11% in 100 years
Just a note, the deforestation of ireland did occur under British rule, but wasn’t about boat building it was due to the explosion in population and the introduction of the potato which could be farmed on marginal land.
It’s still bad.
And the British were still bad.
And building British boats is bad.
It’s just not a straight line between those 3.
Unfortunately there’s long been a “grassland good, woodland bad” mentality because one has cows which means EU subsidy the other was somehow foreign – the love of Dutch hippies and new age drop outs. Even now people will still think livestock should trump every other use of land.
We’ve been a poor country for most of those 100 years. Spending on a national native tree planting programme at any time before the millennium would have lost you every election.
Yeah the cows are the problem! We’ll likely chop down forests for solar fields knowing the direction we seem to be heading. On a positive note, I’ve planted 100 native trees over the last 3 years on some family land. Very rewarding seeing it grow.
What is the source of your statement? Per Teagasc “By 1600, less than 20% of Ireland was covered by forests.” Where are you coming up with wood needed for British boat building?
What’s sadder is most of the forest we have recovered tends to be poorly managed monocultures completely devoid of biodiversity.
I’ve planted 17 native irish trees in the last couple of months. It’s honestly addictive when you start and it was never something I was interested in before. It’s gonna be a while before I seen major changes but even to see the trees starting to show leaves now is great.
https://youtu.be/ALJvmkpLcH4
Almost all the deforestation happened long before the brits arrived. The deforestation that happened during brith rule was due to the expansion of agriculture and not for boat building and accounts for just a few percent. You would probably need to go back to the early bronze age to find 80% forest coverage
Most of these “forests” are timber plantations with trees which grow long and fast. The numbers don’t take into consideration the native tree species here and it’s sad to say but the numbers are even more depressing. Main reason a lot didn’t have power in the north after storm Eowyn was because the plantation trees all fell onto the power cables.
To add another note to the notes, afforestation has its own issues and we should be wary of it. Growing _native_ woodlands should be a priority, as should be protecting them.
That will take a long time to show any results however, on the order of centuries.
We used to have a great trade route between Sixmilebridge Co.Clare and Amsterdam and after the toll bridge in Bunratty blocked the larger Dutch barges from coming in they moved the trade to Limerick. They used to buy our lumber to bury for foundation in the sandy soil in exchange for bricks. It was a great industry for us but we didn’t make it sustainable and that’s a travesty.
It is beneficial to create smaller eco diverse tree lines and new forest, this encourages species growth and provides multiple other benefits to wild life and farm animals. This is not the planting of mass,trees of the same age and species, but building a balanced forest with and emphasis on protecting old growth, and giving opportunities to mid height and low/ ground vegetation.
Shame
The majority of the deforestation in Ireland was done for farm land and population expansion but was mainly done during British rule.
Are we still blaming the Brits for deforestation? I am pretty sure that’s a myth.
Deforestation in Ireland was for farmland not boats or ships as what is commonly known
In your face, Malta and Netherlands.
We gotta start planting trees guys! 🙏🙏🙏
The first minister for agriculture once said ” not a single acre of good land will ever be planted to forestry under my tenure” and this has essentially been the policy since. We’ve only ever planted spruce because it’s the only thing that will get a yield in the poor quality land we’ve etched out for forestry. So today we’ve such a poor forestry sector that we can’t even supply our own regeneration projects with local seeds. Instead we’re importing the vast majority from the Netherlands.
Keep seeing the 70-80% before the brits thing in comments, but any documentary that I have seen that has ever mentioned it, all said there had been massive deforestation before the brits invaded. That’s off the top of my head now, and I have no idea how true it is.
Anyway, the lack of native forests is shocking all right.
Should any of our managed forests be counted? They are wildlife deserts and the mono tree’s don’t feel at home here.
Even sadder, the LARGE majority of that 11% is used for timber. It grows for a few years in unappealing rows of the same species of tree over and over again. To be chopped down, and replanted the exact same way.
Will people stop posting this shit. 150 years ago, we weren’t even in charge of the country. Then Ardnacrusha power station happened(biggest project in Europe at the time), which nearly bankrupted the country. 50 years ago we were a 3rd world country…. and yet people post this nearly every single fucking day here.
The EU is all conifer forests except for Malta which is home to a sole deciduous tree?
Fecking Danes beat us again!
Lmao Ty for the oxygen Finland.
Isn’t there a whole thing where pre-ice age Ireland was mostly forest and it never really recovered to that level. Then of course there’s the whole bog oak thing which says there were trees here post ice age that were then felled or consumed by bogs. Plus the fact that we’re on an exposed rock in the Atlantic Ocean. Just seems like, by it’s very nature, it wouldn’t have ever been a completely tree laden place.
I know there’s evidence that there were British landlords that were glad of the famine as it meant more land for livestock grazing, but I can’t recall anything about ship building.
It’s also often forgot how much was taken from Ireland in all forms of resources by the Vikings, who themselves are somewhat famous for shipbuilding, and stealing gold amongst other things.
It’s a crying shame. We’re not far off the baron landscape that is Easter island.
Probably more depressing when you look at native forest.
Couldn’t you say that was also the case for most of the world before the British colonialised and set up plantations and starting building wiping out nature.
I don’t think this is fair considering Ireland is much smaller than all of these counties. If they where all the same size it would look very different.
Ireland is a great place with some of the most beautiful nature on earth. And noone can argue with that.
Just to note, the stats don’t count trees in ditches, we would be higher up if they were counted
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