The extent of Storm #Eowyn’s impact on forests cannot be seen properly from the ground. This drone footage taken today above a stand I visited in Meath shows how wind hardened trees around the edge remain standing while the centre has been flattened. - ThreadSky

philipb-h.bsky.social • 23 days ago

The extent of Storm #Eowyn’s impact on forests cannot be seen properly from the ground. This drone footage taken today above a stand I visited in Meath shows how wind hardened trees around the edge remain standing while the centre has been flattened.

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eatyourflag.bsky.social•19 days ago

These are not forests, these are tree farms. It’s like calling cows wildebeest. 😉

fattebertj.bsky.social•1 day ago

Spruce monoculture? Looks like Lothar in Dec. 1999....

olliemoore.bsky.social•22 days ago

Great episode today Philip. Very important point on propagation time in hort - next 2 months are vital for growers, for the entire year ahead. They need action. Let's see if the minister can deliver properly and quickly.

byhedge.bsky.social•23 days ago

Wrong trees in wrong place?

philipb-h.bsky.social•23 days ago

Sitka with its small root plate on poorly draining soil. So probably, yes.
The tragedy for the owner was that he was converting it to Continuous Cover Forestry, and the revenue it generated subsidised unprofitable oak and alder stands

byhedge.bsky.social•23 days ago

Totally predictable.

Funded by the taxpayer.

Even after 5 years of a Green Minister forestry is a mess.

Laughing stock of serious forestry countries.

tarnado.bsky.social•23 days ago

alder is unprofitable???

philipb-h.bsky.social•23 days ago

Not as profitable as quickly

tarnado.bsky.social•23 days ago

Hard to image a tree that doesn't come to marketable size as quickly as alder! I'm not meaning to argue, I'm just really curious about the forestry sector here.

philipb-h.bsky.social•23 days ago

I’m not well informed about lumber prices. I’m really reporting the impression conveyed to me by the landowner. Which is probably largely coloured by the subsidy regime.

kilgortaree.bsky.social•19 days ago

Is the halo effect not caused by the conventional fringe of broadleaf trees around the edges? Wind hardening is a new concept to me …

mpunch.bsky.social•23 days ago

They're not real forests, though, in that picture. Only invasive-species tree-farms. No?

tarnado.bsky.social•23 days ago

I've not heard or read that these spruce are invasive in Ireland, just non-native. Are they invasive?

lynnok.bsky.social•22 days ago

They are self seeding around stands and on bogs. But as they could be easily killed off they wouldn't be problematic.

mpunch.bsky.social•23 days ago

Not invasive as such, except as a symbiote with greedy landowners.

philipb-h.bsky.social•23 days ago

This could not only erode already shaken confidence in forestry, but it will be very bad for Ireland’s GHG emissions. Forestry was well on its way from carbon sink to becoming a net emitter. Eowyn will drastically accelerate that.
#climate #extremeweather

robertbohan.bsky.social•19 days ago

I’m confused. How can Sitka, which acidifies soil & water catchments, ever be considered good for anything? Also how can knocking inappropriate industrial plantations down be a bad thing? And where is the reporting on the lobbying & waste of money in planting these pollutants? It’s even poor timber.

robertbohan.bsky.social•19 days ago

But hey, I’m just a woodland ecologist…

philipb-h.bsky.social•19 days ago

Undoubtedly what you’re saying about environmental impact is true. But it doesn’t capture the nuance of the landowner’s ambitions. The monoculture was planted by his father. He was transitioning it to naturally regenerated CCF. In the meantime Sitka thinning subsidised an unprofitable oak stand.

philipb-h.bsky.social•19 days ago

And knocking down a plantation where, without a felling licence, the wood may be left to rot and the soil disturbed, will be disastrous for GHG emissions.

morgenrothedgar.bsky.social•23 days ago

These monocultures are more susceptible to storm damage and disease and are not real forests anyway. These lessons were learned elsewhere decades ago, but Coillte continue with an outdated approach.

timberdoodlydoo.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yeah, I've never seen a mixed sitka spruce-western hemlock stand do something like this before in AK, and the winds are routinely far worse than eowyn was.
If you did get blowdown it was either a few acres, or dramatically larger due to the addition of days of extreme precip

doomrick.bsky.social•23 days ago

Not sure it really matters anymore.

kpparlour.bsky.social•23 days ago

Is that type of forestry not simply for profit and feck the environment?

philipb-h.bsky.social•23 days ago

The Sitka was planted by the current owner’s father. He was converting it to Continuous Cover Forestry, and the revenue it generated subsidised unprofitable oak and alder stands next to the conifer.

kpparlour.bsky.social•23 days ago

Thanks.

patrickcanning.bsky.social•23 days ago

I remember this with hurricane Juan around Halifax in 2003.. it also finished off much of the scant remaining old growth.

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