LOWRY Loingsech, king of Lagin, has a lot to answer for. When he went skulking off to use a willow as a confessional, Labradh - to use the Irish form of his name - could not have foreseen the vengeful toll taken over centuries on this island's forestry. For his tree was felled, carved into a harp and what did that instrument do? It sang out the king's big secret.
Trees are not just in our blood, they are in our genes, according to John Feehan, lecturer at UCD's environmental resource management department. Waxing lyrical about their spirit a couple of years ago, he described them as "the whales of the land", the longest lived large creatures on earth. Yet here we were in the middle of the sixth and greatest spasm of extinction in the earth's history, Dr Feehan noted, busily destroying a football field of rain forest every second.
A little over a decade ago, when an organisation called Crann was formed, there was poor enough appreciation in Ireland of the wider role of forestry. If anything, broadleaf trees were believed to be of little commercial value. Ten years later, there has been a remarkable shift in consciousness, according to Denis Heenan, who writes the foreword to Crann's latest publication. Some 20 per cent of new private planting is of broadleaf species.
Urban forester
Produced on recycled paper, naturally, Trees in Urban Spaces is a compilation of views expressed at a seminar on this theme in Dublin last year. You've heard of the urban cowboy; this is a handbook for the urban forester. Not only have farmers been won over to the value of new tree planting, albeit with a little financial encouragement, but city communities have recognised the social dimension to a little bit of live green space in a harsh prairie landscape.
Finglas is one such. It was in April, 1990, that a community tree nursery was started in the suburb with help from the local authority, local business, FAS, Coillte, the Tree Council of Ireland and the environmental agency Eco. Trees in Urban Spaces gives other examples, such as Inchicore, East Wall, Phibsborough and other parts of the city targeted by the Crann sa Chathair project. It wasn't all success; some of it was over ambitious, Alison Maddock admits in her contribution. Because of tough soil, the project at St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, was a "total failure", she says.
Stress reduction
However, a recent slide taken of the estate's entrance shows 35 full standards coming into leaf. How come? "A year after Crann's futile effort, Dublin Corporation came back and did a proper job," she writes. It used a JCB to excavate very compacted soil, and few of the trees planted have been lost since.
Research has highlighted the role that trees play in air filtration, "carbon sinking", noise screening and "invisible" benefits like stress reduction. The urban forest in the US city of Atlanta saves it $14 million dollars in energy costs. Though tree planting is a potential source of local employment, the concept cannot be imposed. Like a seed, it takes time and nurturing to germinate.
The appendices in the booklet, which is edited by Des Gunning of Crann sa Chathair, are most useful. Speaking earlier this month at the publication's launch, Terry O'Regan of Landscape Alliance Ireland paid tribute to Crann for achieving so much. It was high time that as a society we found the means to provide core funding to environmental nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), he said. Buying the booklet will certainly help. It is available at £10, postage and packing included, from Mary Holohan in the Crann national office, Banagher, Co Offaly (telephone 0509517
Franklin exhibition
Strange seas, rather than trees, were what drew the Canada based Irish artist Vincent Sheridan to a landscape further north over the past decade or so. Sheridan, who has been living in Canada since 1989, spent three summers in the High Arctic in the 1980s, initially as a member of the Irish Brent Goose expeditions and later as a freelance artist. He has taken an original theme for his latest exhibition, which is due to be opened by Joss Lynam, mountaineer and president of the Association for Adventure Sports, in Dublin tomorrow.
Entitled "Arctic Enigma - In Search of Franklin", the exhibition marks the disappearance 50 years ago of one of the great Victorian explorers, Sir John Franklin, The exhibition evokes themes of obsession, adventure, emotion, and inescapable mortality. Judge for yourself at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place: Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, 2-5 p.m.; and Sunday 10 a.m.-1 p.m., from Wednesday of this week until July 6th.