Tree Week is over, and there has been much planting and planning and the good word has been spread again about our need to releaf our towns and also to continue the not-insignificant work done on forests proper. Many proposals for commemorative planting. And a lively letter from our friend in the south, Padraig O Loinsigh, in answer to a proposal from Ray Monaghan on planting trees for the Millennium, in this newspaper. He quotes the great Augus tine Hebry: "A forest is the finest thing in the world; it is the expression of nature in its highest form; it is so full of beauty and variety."
And Mr O Loinsigh mentions several examples of this method of marking a good person's useful lifetime as Christy Ring, and as a remembrance of a teacher, cultivating trees being "so closely analogous to then work of teachers." Forests don't yet stimulate our people as much as they might. Some object to forestry moving too close to their house, maybe blocking their view or giving them a closed-in feeling. And it takes time for the idea to catch on, of a forest subscribed to on a large scale by individuals or even institutions. For in November 1990, Mary Robinson, not stalled as President, yet implanted the first tree at OakGlen in Glencree, County Wicklow. The idea is that, for £10, you can sponsor a tree. to celebrate a birthday or a christening, or to commemorate a particular person. Or just to plant a tree for your own good reasons. Or ten trees, or more. For a £10 donation you get a certificate bearing your name or that of whoever you propose. Oak, of course.
Coillte made 65 acres available, and Coillte staff oversee the project. Nearly seven years since that first ceremonial tree - and yet 2,000 more subscribers at £10 each are required. Six trees are planted for your money. Gradually five will be felled, leaving the best to grow on into a fine oak forest. If everyone who spoke trees or wrote about trees just took a hand... Or does the Government have to do everything?