Upcoming Events

National | Environment

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link Ukraine Buys Huge Amounts of Russian Fue... Fri Jan 20, 2023 08:34 | Antonia Kotseva

offsite link Turkey Has Sent Ukraine Cluster Munition... Thu Jan 12, 2023 00:26 | Jack Detsch

offsite link New Israeli Government Promises to Talk ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 21:13 | Al Majadeen

offsite link Russia Training Iranian Pilots Ahead of ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:19 | The Times of Israel

offsite link Lukashenko Abolishes Copyright Protectio... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:05 | Nikki Main

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Mar 29, 2024 00:04 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Women?s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player ?Broke Opponent?... Thu Mar 28, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
A women?s football competition has been branded misogynist after it was won by a team featuring five transgender players, amid accusations one had broken an opponent?s leg in two places.
The post Women’s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player “Broke Opponent’s Leg” ? But Teams Who Refuse to Play Against Them Are Branded “Discriminatory” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake Thu Mar 28, 2024 17:36 | Will Jones
The evidence that the Gaza casualty numbers from the Hamas-run Health Ministry (now over 32,000) are wildly inflated continues to mount. Mark Zlochin looks at what the proportions of male and female UNRWA workers tell us.
The post Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Don?t Be Fooled by the ?Britain is Growing? Fairytales Thu Mar 28, 2024 15:22 | David Craig
Don't be fooled by the 'Britain is growing' fairytales, says David Craig. Any 'growth' is accounted for by the hike in the benefits bill and in civil servants' pay and a heap of other unproductive deficit spending.
The post Don’t Be Fooled by the ‘Britain is Growing’ Fairytales appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Climate: The Movie is a Perfect Cure for Climate Anxiety Thu Mar 28, 2024 13:00 | Toby Young
Climate Change: The Movie, the new film by Martin Durkin, should be shown at every school in the country to disabuse anxious young people of the idea that we're in the midst of a 'climate emergency'.
The post Climate: The Movie is a Perfect Cure for Climate Anxiety appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Search author name words: d

Coillte Forestry Fables In Regard To Tree Felling At Gougane Barra Heritage Site

category national | environment | press release author Tuesday August 26, 2014 15:05author by Woodland League - The Woodland League Report this post to the editors

For Release on Friday 22nd August, 2014

Press Release - Woodland League

The public amenity forest at Gougane Barra, co Cork has been clear-felled for no good reason. This is
the claim of an internationally renowned Irish tree-scientist and a number of Irish NGOs.
In January 2014, Coillte, the Irish Forestry Board, contended that ‘sudden oak-death’ (Phytophtera
ramorum) had infested the veteran larch trees in the forest and that urgent clear-felling was essential.
Documentary evidence purporting to support this assertion dated July 2013 has been branded tenuous
at best by Diana Beresford-Kroeger the renowned Irish tree-scientist who saw no sign of the disease
while filming in the forest in August of that year.
coillte_defends_tree_felling_in_cork_state_park_aug_2014.jpg

Diana, who acts as a forestry scientific consultant to the not for profit NGO, The Woodland League,
had received background information including the laboratory documents from the League.

Diana Beresford Kroeger stated "I was in Gougane Barra last August, I did not see the presence of
the cankers of Phytophthora Ramorum, where the internal phloem and young, vigorous xylem
tissue of the trees is killed by this fungal disease. As a scientist I would like to see proof of its
presence, which is easy enough to detect before I express my horror and dismay at the destruction of
the forest at Gougane Barra. Need I add the old timers must have sold at a premium price and now
the shoulders of the mountains are bare and mangled with death and decay. It would not surprise
me if the Irish public were expected to open their purse again to restore the site".


Information from two laboratories was emailed to the Woodland League some months after their initial
urgent request for scientific evidence of the alleged outbreak of ramorum. The independence of that
evidence is questionable in that both laboratories are state-controlled. Coillte, had already felled and
sold the timber, their own laboratory being one of those who confirmed the disease, the other being the
department of Agriculture who regulate the forest sector. The two documents may be accessed here:

http://woodlandleague.org/documents/13-4890.pdf
and here:
http://woodlandleague.org/documents/PF13-030.pdf

Both contain one line statements with a reference code and no senior Plant pathology scientist
signature. This is not proof of disease in Gougane Barra.

Andrew St Ledger, the Woodland League PRO commented, "It is inconceivable that Coillte,
caretakers of the 1.2 million acre Public forest estate, the biggest single land bank are not
accountable to anybody. The self-regulatory nature of Ireland’s Forestry sector, the reliance on non
mandatory guidelines, and complete lack of Independent scrutiny creates a serious environmental
hazard and generates conflicts of interest".


Furthermore, there is no trace of a felling application for the non-larch component of the Glen (i.e.
Sitka and Lodgepole pine), which was also felled, a potential breach of the 1946 Forestry Act.
The Woodland League also allege active concealment within the Department of Agriculture and Coillte
of the extraction of the stand of Western hemlock aged 70 years old within glen Gougane Barra.
Neither Coillte nor the Forest Service did not reveal or disclose they were planning to extract other tree
species from the park. The cultural value of the ancient glen, as a place of historic significance, has
been ignored in the rush for short term profit. The trucks witnessed leaving the site with the timber had
no covering, breaching sanitisation protocols as expressed by the Forest Service and violating Coillte’s
own FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) ecolabel in relation to the FSC's 10 Principles which are used
to measure ecolabel compliance.

EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessments) are mandatory for timber extractions above 70 hectares.
The Gougane Barra clearance exceeded by far this threshold. That there was no EIA means there was
no public consultation. Thus the primary statutory stakeholders, the Irish Public, have been bypassed -
YET AGAIN.

The Woodland league are joined by two other NGO's with concerns about this serious public issue,
CELT ( Centre for Environmental Living and Training ), and MDEG ( Macroom and District
Environmental Group ) who first raised the alarm about this forest destruction occurring in their
locality.

Bob Wilson of CELT said, "The wholesale harvesting by Coillte of many fine, mature trees at this world-renowned site without
proper public consultation, without felling licences and with apparent complete disregard for natural biodiversity is very disturbing.
Excuses of possibly diseased Larch and extensive storm damage have not been adequately shown to be true or accurate.
With Ireland's extremely low area of tree cover, we cannot afford to lose such specimens in such a high-nature-value forest unless it is
absolutely proven necessary".


Ted Cook PRO of MDEG had this to add "It is ironic that the while the state are in the process of
launching a new forestry programme, hailing it as a new vision,"Forests, Products and People", the
Gougane Barra incident reinforces the same old forestry fable, a continuation of the severance of
the people from their forests, unaccountable to local communities or environmental NGO's. We note
the draft of the new plan has increased funding provision for public amenity forests and wonder will
Coillte now be compensated to restore the site with public funding".


ENDS
Please Contact for more information and quotes...
Andrew St Ledger +353-(0)87-9933157
stledgerwood@gmail.com
Ted Cook ( MDEG ) 086878989
Bob Wilson ( CELT ) 0876324644

Background articles
http://www.southernstar.ie/News/Controversy-lingers-ove...4.htm
Cork's Gougane Barra
Forest Park closing due to ... - The Irish Times www.irishtimes.com/.../cork-s-gougane-barra-forest-park-closing-due-to..
Coillte urged to clarify extent of larch disease in Gougane Barra ... www.irishtimes.com/.../coillte-urged-to-clarify-extent-of-larch-disease-in.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/coillte-manager-de....html
Forest service rejects "frenzy of tree-felling" http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/forest-servi...69032
FOREST HEROINE: Tree advocate Diana Beresford-Kroeger sets reforestation sights high
http://blog.cifor.org/21558/foreforest-heroine-tree-adv...-high

Related Link: http://www.woodlandleague.org/pressreleases/Press-Release-2014-08-22.pdf
author by Spikeypublication date Wed Aug 27, 2014 13:48author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If this is true it's disgraceful, these people need to be held accountable. I worked for Coilte when I was younger and from what I saw at least in my own county it's riddled with nepotism and corruption. FFS we need to be planting more oak trees not f*'king cutting them down!.

 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy