Sir, – With news of the catastrophic fires in Les Landes forests in France, Una Mullally’s article on Irish forests (“Sitka spruce dominates Irish ‘forests’ — this is both wrong and dangerous” Opinion & Analysis, July 25th) is very timely. It is an urgent wake-up call for greater diversification of Irish state conifer forests.
Running north-south for about 200km by the Bay of Biscay, Les Landes is a 160-year old monoculture pine afforestation programme.
This programme was a beacon of hope for early 20th century Irish visionaries to bring economic opportunity to the poor agricultural land of rural Ireland. In Les Landes new villages and towns grew up around the turpentine, timber and paper industries that developed from the forest.
But in a plantation of flammable pine, there were occasional outbreaks of fire which were hard to control.
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Much has been learnt from the catastrophic fire of 1949 where one-quarter of Les Landes was destroyed.
This month more than 14,000 hectares has been consumed by fire there, which is still spreading. Local firemen estimate that risk of fire is greater when weather is less than 30 per cent humidity, wind greater than 30 km/hour, and temperature greater than 30 degrees. These conditions can now be found as far north as Brittany, and even in Ireland during our recent hot weather.
Fortunately, the younger Irish state forest estate of spruce and pine monocultures is being diversified by Coillte with mixed non-pine trees of native and non-native stock. However, with the recent experience of forest fire in the Killarney woods clearly identifying the resistance of native trees, Government investment in large-scale native woods regeneration might be the best protection for Irish State forests in a world of changing climate and increased risk of fire. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET DUFF GARVEY,
Environmental Humanities Centre, History Department,
Trinity College Dublin.
