Call to rewild in Killykeen Forest Park

Coillte highight's forest's role in producing 'sustainable wood'

Coillte is being urged to preserve the recent felling sites in Killykeen Forest Park for nature.

The call by nature enthusiast, Reuben Jayawardene, comes ahead of a meeting today (Friday) when Coillte representatives are set to meet residents concerned about the impact of the felling on the local amenity.

Originally from Cork, Reuben moved to Cavan with his wife and young family two years ago. He fell in love with the lakes and woodland landscapes around Cavan.

“Cavan is a beautiful county, I’m from Cork originally and coming up here seeing the lakes and the wonderful forest scapes that you see, it's something special and it’s something that needs to be preserved.

“It’s much closer to nature here and that’s something that we’ve reaped the benefits of.”

When speaking to The Anglo-Celt, Reuben had just finished reading Eoghan Daltun’s ‘An Atlantic Irish Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding.’ The book focuses on a Dublin man’s journey rewilding 30 acres of land on the Beara Peninsula in Cork, to restore it to what Reuben described as “its natural state".

“This was fresh in my mind while I was walking around the Killykeen area with my sons,” he said.

“If this area of land was clear felled, the best option for it would be to allow it to be restored to its natural state by allowing the natural growth of local trees, oak, ash, alder and so on.

“Even if you walk those paths, you can see that happening organically anyway, there’s saplings of alder that you see cropping up everywhere.”

Coillte, the state-owned commercial forestry business, told this newspaper it intends on replanting in Killykeen with 70% Sitka spruce with a mix of 15% oak and 15% Scot’s pine in one area. The other area will make up 80% Sitka, while oak and “other native broadleaf trees” will make up the remaining 20%.

“Sitka is a non-native species and one that is used in coniferous plantations, so if they’re planting sitka then effectively they’re just resuming the plantation as opposed to just allowing that area to be used for conservation and for supporting natural forests," said Reuben.

“I think there’s a question also as to what their intention is for the oak, do they intend to earmark that lands to be left alone, in other words a zero extraction area, or do they have desires to fell that in the future as well?”

Coillte reps intend answering these and other questions residents might have on Friday and listening to the views and concerns of the community.

Reuben said he understands Coillte has “a commercial remit” but believes “consideration has to be made for areas that are on nature walks”.

“Also for the importance of this in general, for the causes of combatting climate change and also for helping with biodiversity in the country.

“Coniferous plantations do not help local flora and fauna, they create acidic conditions in the soil, which means that no undergrowth can really happen," Reuben claimed.

“It doesn’t do any favours to local biodiversity and what's more natural forest is far more beautiful and is not the eyesore that a clear felled area is or coniferous forest.”

Reuben said there is “an opportunity” now to “earmark” the space for “local rewilding".

“There’s an opportunity there and I would hope that there is local interest in compelling Coillte to use that area, because it’s on the [walking] path, to earmark it for local rewilding.”

“It would be very easy to do, really all you have to do is leave it alone, you’ll see that it starts to happen itself.”

Reuben believes that Coillte itself has a "net carbon output” instead of being an organisation that's "sequestering carbon".

He explains his reasoning “on account of the fact that the clear felling of land releases significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere".

“That coupled with the disadvantage it creates for biodiversity, as well as the fact that it’s a place of beauty for local residents and for tourists, makes a strong argument for earmarking that piece of land for rewilding.

“That’s what I’d like to see there.

“The evidence is that an indigenous forest holds much much more carbon than a coniferous forest because all those myriad species in the forest floor add to the carbon as well.

“It’s much preferable because Ireland has such a low percentage of these natural forests that I’d love to see a local effort to be part of the solution.”

A ‘triple benefit to climate change’ - Coillte

Regarding native species of tree, a Coillte spokesperson said: “Our intention is to manage these native woodland areas for nature, meaning these areas of the forests, with native trees, would not be felled but rather retained to ensure a permanent canopy cover.”

Asked if they would consider leaving the felled areas to rewilding, the spokesperson added: “This specific area of Killykeen Forest Park has a very productive forest, which will continue to be planted with Sitka spruce, which will be used for producing sustainable wood.”

However they added that “other areas”, which include the areas along the forest park walkway, “will be planted with broadleaf trees including for example Oak and Scots pine”.

Regarding the claim that Coillte has a net carbon output, the spokesperson replied: “Our forests provide a triple benefit to climate change – they serve as a carbon sink, store, and substitute.

“This combination is key to mitigating the impacts of global warming and achieving Ireland’s climate action targets,” added the spokesperson.

“Coillte’s ambition to enable the creation of new forests and to capture approximately 28 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment by 2050.

“Coillte has a goal to produce over 15 million cubic meters of certified Irish wood by 2030, which will be used to build the low-carbon homes of the future.”

The spokesperson did not provide figures on its carbon footprint, to reflect the emissions generated by felling operations.