For many Irish people, forestry has become an f-word. But to spin a few statistics, the timber industry here now employs 16,000 people and provides 60 per cent of the country's structural timber requirements. Some 8 per cent of the country is under forestry, and the aim is to double that by the year 2020, with an attendant increase of 11,000 jobs. But, goes the grumble, forestry in Ireland means dark, ugly, geometric woods marching down much-loved mountains, and has brought harm to waterways, fisheries and heritage sites. And in the chronicle of complaints one name stands out - that of Sitka spruce.
In fact, poor old, much-maligned Sitka spruce seems to represent a pretty good compromise for dealing with a bad problem, namely Ireland's deforestation. In the 16th century, according to Michael Carey, general manager of Coillte, Ireland had around 16 per cent forest cover. By 1900, he says, we were left with just 1 per cent. In 1905, research began at Avondale in Co Wicklow (once home to Charles Stewart Parnell), to see what species were most suitable for the restoration of the country's forest cover. Large plots of trees from around the world - broadleaf and conifer alike - were planted along the Great Ride in Avondale. Prof Augustine Henry, best known to gardeners as a plant collector, particularly of Chinese species, was closely involved in the project.
The trials showed conifers were best suited to the land available to forestry - which in the main was impoverished, poorly suited to agriculture of other sorts, and too poor to support broadleaf trees. "It was Henry who realised that we were climatically closer to western North America than to Europe," says John McLoughlin, chief environmental officer of Coillte. Among the North American conifers, Prof Henry noticed that one species in particular stood out as fastgrowing, disease-free and wonderfully suited to timber production. It was Picea sitchensis: Sitka spruce, named after the old Russian capital of Alaska, Sitka, on Baranof Island.
The Sitka spruce was no stranger to Ireland, having been planted in demesnes since 1834, shortly after David Douglas (he of the Douglas fir) introduced it into Europe. In fact our tallest tree, at Curraghmore in Co Waterford, is a Sitka spruce, standing a proud 51.6 metres tall (in Alaska, they regularly grow to nearly twice that height).
The problem of course, in this infant, pioneering industry, was that no-one back then really knew what would be the long-term effects of planting the mountains with great swathes of conifers. Coillte now readily admits that mistakes were made but says it is determined to see improvements.
Better land - not mountains and bogs - is becoming available as retired farmers sell marginal land to the State, and more diverse species will be planted. Some of that territory will be suitable for planting broadleaf trees, including ash, sycamore, oak and beech. And, as regards forestry configuration, Coillte has invested heavily in redesigning its forest landscape shapes. Gone will be the rulers-and-callipers, polygonal plantations, and from now on, newly planted trees will flow organically with the contours of the land. (Although it is worth noting here that a recent survey in Wicklow showed that some people actually liked orderly planting: "What's wrong with straight lines?" they wondered.)
Next week, in association with An Taisce, Coillte is releasing a book, Celebrating The Forests of Ireland, an attempt to dispel some of the mutual distrust and incomprehension that exists between foresters and the public. With text by Prof Frank Convery of An Taisce and photographs by Neil Warner, the sumptuous book turns over a new leaf for Coillte - or, at least, a general sprucing up of their image?
Celebrating The Forests Of Ireland will be available from An Taisce and from Coillte's region offices.
Diary Date: National Tree Week starts tomorrow and there are hundreds of events all over the country. For details of what's happening in your area, ask at your local garden centre, or contact The Tree Council of Ireland, telephone: 016790699, fax: 01-6799457. Programmes are also available at ENFO, 17 St Andrew Street, Dublin 2, telephone: 01-6793144.