Forestry related posts - as they pertain to the Irish property market

NZ_2014

The_Conductor wrote: »

uniquely beautiful landscapes, our largely unspoilt countryside

Largely unspoilt as in lots of field for the cattle and sheep?


http://m.independent.ie/business/farming/ireland-third-lowest-in-european-forest-cover-26746500.html

The_Conductor

NZ_2014 wrote: »

Largely unspoilt as in lots of field for the cattle and sheep?


http://m.independent.ie/business/farming/ireland-third-lowest-in-european-forest-cover-26746500.html

I'm not entirely sure what the point is?
We may only have have just over 13% of our country afforested- however, its a far cry from just after the foundation of the state where we fell as low as 4% before rebounding over the years.

Forestry is a massive bugbear with farmers- indeed, as a forestry student I've memories of coming back after the weekend to find our machinery burnt out on a number of occasions- and I was also personally threatened in a certain border village, where I was working with a group of Fás workers on a forestry scheme.

A landscape isn't necessary about forestry- though it can include it.

NZ_2014

The_Conductor wrote: »

Forestry is a massive bugbear with farmers- indeed, as a forestry student I've memories of coming back after the weekend to find our machinery burnt out on a number of occasions- and I was also personally threatened in a certain border village, where I was working with a group of Fás workers on a forestry scheme.

This is a problem throughout the world.

The_Conductor wrote: »

A landscape isn't necessary about forestry- though it can include it.

Fair point; although, I would have a personal preference for a lot more forestry.

The_Conductor wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure what the point is?

I was only having a bit of banter

The_Conductor wrote: »

We may only have have just over 13% of our country afforested- however, its a far cry from just after the foundation of the state where we fell as low as 4% before rebounding over the years.

If you look at wikipedias list of forested countries, and sort the table by percentage of area covered, Ireland is way down the the list, mainly desert like countries below Ireland on this list..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_forest_area

Anyway back on topic - house prices to fall in 2015 (hopefully!)

gaius c

The_Conductor wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure what the point is?
We may only have have just over 13% of our country afforested- however, its a far cry from just after the foundation of the state where we fell as low as 4% before rebounding over the years.

Forestry is a massive bugbear with farmers- indeed, as a forestry student I've memories of coming back after the weekend to find our machinery burnt out on a number of occasions- and I was also personally threatened in a certain border village, where I was working with a group of Fás workers on a forestry scheme.

A landscape isn't necessary about forestry- though it can include it.

Perhaps they had strong opinions on the mass planting of incredibly ugly Sitka Spruce forests?

Michael D Not Higgins

The_Conductor wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure what the point is?
We may only have have just over 13% of our country afforested- however, its a far cry from just after the foundation of the state where we fell as low as 4% before rebounding over the years.

Forestry is a massive bugbear with farmers- indeed, as a forestry student I've memories of coming back after the weekend to find our machinery burnt out on a number of occasions- and I was also personally threatened in a certain border village, where I was working with a group of Fás workers on a forestry scheme.

A landscape isn't necessary about forestry- though it can include it.

Weren't all the forests cut down by Cromwell to prevent the guerilla fighters from hiding? (Could be a republican history teacher from my youth if not true)

The_Conductor

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

Weren't all the forests cut down by Cromwell to prevent the guerilla fighters from hiding? (Could be a republican history teacher from my youth if not true)

Any of the better timber- went towards ship building- with the British Admiralty taking out 200 year contracts for the supply of oak specifically for this purpose- many stands of which are still in existence- though its not considered to be native or undisturbed woodland.

The big issue- akin to in the UK- was travelling woodcutters, who cut down forests to create charcoal for use in industrial era England.

Yes- Cromwell cut down vast swathes of forest here- in the name of destroying the hideouts of vagabonds and vagrants- however, the advent of the industrial era, was an even worse culprit than anything else.

Added to this- when we gained our independence- forests were viewed as a sign of the landlord classes- and it was seen as a thumbs up to landlords- to cut down any trees you could find.

Then there is the farming community- who view the natural cycle of things as planting in the spring- and harvesting in the autumn- and anything which doesn't have this annual cycle is viewed with skepticism and suspicion. On the continent its entirely normal to incorporate farm forestry into farming- and has been for hundreds of years- here in Ireland- its an alien concept.

Anyhow- this is hopelessly off-topic, and nothing whatsoever to do with Dublin Houseprices in 2015............

Michael D Not Higgins

Thanks for the knowledge all the same!

jmayo

The_Conductor wrote: »

Any of the better timber- went towards ship building- with the British Admiralty taking out 200 year contracts for the supply of oak specifically for this purpose- many stands of which are still in existence- though its not considered to be native or undisturbed woodland.

The big issue- akin to in the UK- was travelling woodcutters, who cut down forests to create charcoal for use in industrial era England.

Yes- Cromwell cut down vast swathes of forest here- in the name of destroying the hideouts of vagabonds and vagrants- however, the advent of the industrial era, was an even worse culprit than anything else.

Added to this- when we gained our independence- forests were viewed as a sign of the landlord classes- and it was seen as a thumbs up to landlords- to cut down any trees you could find.

Then there is the farming community- who view the natural cycle of things as planting in the spring- and harvesting in the autumn- and anything which doesn't have this annual cycle is viewed with skepticism and suspicion. On the continent its entirely normal to incorporate farm forestry into farming- and has been for hundreds of years- here in Ireland- its an alien concept.

Anyhow- this is hopelessly off-topic, and nothing whatsoever to do with Dublin Houseprices in 2015............

Not meaning to further diverge the threat onto tangent, but that statement is grossly unfair to lots of farmers.
A big issue in the past (our 18th/19th century) was fact that lots of the land was let to tenants with little or no security of tenure and they existed at a subsistence level.
Hence why they had little or no regard to long term planting.
That is why you had lovely old tree lined avenues, old woods and copses around the landlords own home farms and grand houses with shag all around the rest of the landscape.
Also a lot of hedrows were removed in the last few decades trying to create larger fields to make for more economical farming with machinery.

Mrs OBumble

NZ_2014 wrote: »

Largely unspoilt as in lots of field for the cattle and sheep?


http://m.independent.ie/business/farming/ireland-third-lowest-in-european-forest-cover-26746500.html

Ireland is a tiny country, I'd say very little of it is largely unspoilt.

My own ancestral homeplace was in fact farmland which was willingly sold for forestry some 50+ years ago. The landscape there has trees on it now, but I would not call it unspoilt.