Responsible forestry and economic sustainability

Sir, – Yvonne Buckley’s article “Responsible forestry can pull us back from the ‘carbon cliff’” (Science, June 27th) reflects positive current research initiatives that will assist forest-related decision-making by landowners and Government.

And how we need more trees in one of the least-forested countries in Europe. Not only for climate change mitigation but to drive improved returns for our farming communities. With only 13.5 per cent of “cattle rearing” farms considered viable, according to the most recent Teagasc National Farm Survey 2022, paying alternatives like forestry must be a real option to be considered. The economic sustainability of the trees we plant is critical to this aim, and spruce, planted in the now mandatory non-monoculture mixtures, is critical to achieving this aim. Not only because it locks up carbon faster than other tree species, due to its growth rate, but it also provides valuable timber with this carbon locked in, displacing concrete and steel in buildings, which are very significant carbon emitters in their manufacturing processes. Mixed spruce stands, appropriately managed, can enhance the biodiversity of sites, as has been shown in studies.

Even our fabulous native Strawberry tree, Arbutus unedo, is now thought to have been introduced during the Bronze Age when settlers with knowledge of mining from Iberia took Arbutus with them to the first copper mines in Cork and Kerry, perhaps because the tree itself produces alcohol in its mature berries.

While spruce was introduced many centuries later, it is another introduction with many potential end uses, also evidenced by Irish craft brewers who recently rediscovered spruce beer, recognised by sailors and indigenous peoples of America for centuries as a guard against scurvy. – Yours, etc,