Forester Michael Seery, whose home overlooks the expansive Lough Mask in Co Mayo, has “never experienced” anything like the ferocity of Storm Éowyn last month.
“I was afraid to go out of the house I was so frightened,“ he said.
When it was safe, he discovered his plantation of walnut and Canadian origin trees were “flattened”.
“Anything that the tearing winds couldn’t pull out of the ground was broken,” said Seery (73).
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He and his wife Carmel moved to Cushlough in 2004 in search of “the good life”.
The former Guinness employee — he worked in the firm’s mechanical engineering section — was among more than 60 concerned forest owners from south Mayo who gathered in Claremorris this week for a talk by Euroforest, Ireland’s largest independent forestry company.
The meeting was aimed at assisting woodland owners in the aftermath of the storm, with information provided on how to deal safely with large volumes of windblown timber.
Brian Fitzgerald, general manager with Euroforest, said the damage caused by the January 24th winds was “on a scale never seen on the island of Ireland before”.
Seery, speaking after the meeting, said his weeks following the storm have been spent from “dawn to dusk with a buzzing chainsaw”.
“None of the windblown stuff is salvageable, except for firewood,” he said.
“Getting help is well nigh impossible. Since the storm, I have been working night and day. I have one guy who helps me but his sheep are lambing now. All of his walls are flattened,” he said.
Many at the meeting said Storm Éowyn was “the last straw” on top of the continuing impact of ash dieback. The chronic fungal disease of ash trees was first detected in the State in 2012, according to the Teagasc agricultural and horticultural agency.
John Corless, who is based in Claremorris, is counting the cost of damage to his plantation.
With the effects of climate change, he said forestry will become a “non-business” unless there is serious State intervention.
The Government will “have to do something to compensate people who have suffered massive losses, like they have done already for those affected by mica in houses”, he said.
One farmer who spoke was pessimistic about the future of afforestation, given meteorological predictions that further damaging storms in are inevitable.
“My older forest is decimated”, said the landholder, who asked for anonymity.
“The windblown stuff is thrown in every direction so I am going to incur increased costs for harvesting.
“I planted a good lot of land — over 70 acres. I probably would not have gone into it as big if I knew then what I know now," he said.
He is “very disillusioned”, he said, adding that Storm Éowyn is the “nail in the coffin”.
“I think what has happened with ash dieback is bad but this is bigger. To put it bluntly, we are up the creek.
Euroforest’s Fitzgerald said estimates are still awaited from the Department of Forestry on the amount of trees thought to be down.
He advised foresters to “salvage maximum net financial return per hectare — act quickly but act sensibly as well”.
He warned against venturing into woodlands to assess damage, as there are “massive health and safety risks at the minute”. Drones and satellite imagery can help instead, while harvesting specialists should be deployed, he said.
