Monica McGill: ‘Woodman, spare that tree – touch not a single bough!’

REGULAR readers of The Echo may recall Maurice Garvey’s recent article “Criticism over the felling of ‘iconic’ Monterey Cypress tree” published in March?

Felling this tree (and many others around one of the car parks in Corkagh) caused a local outcry.

Our council said it was because the trees were diseased or in a dangerous condition. Some people doubted these reasons.

They were dismayed and angry and voiced their opinions on social media, but it was too late to save the trees.

The felling seems to have started with the rag tree (a venerable ash) at St Bridget’s Well in Clondalkin village in December 2022.

“Okay,” people said in response to the council’s information given post factum, “it’s a pity, but if the tree has ash die-back disease, if it will infect other ash trees in the area and it has to be felled and burnt to prevent this, then what can be done?”

Trees felled in Clondalkin. Fifty years or more to grow, an hour or less to fell (Image: Monica McGill)

A flower bed has replaced the old tree, but maybe the council will plant another rag tree somewhere inside the precincts of St Brigid’s Well if possible.

Some years ago, the council said we had 67,000 trees in South Dublin. Sounds a lot, but an independent survey carried out reported that we need even more, that South Dublin County area is comparatively short of trees.

Many local trees have numbered discs embedded in them, so there must be a tree databank somewhere.

There are Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) to protect a tree or a number of trees, but because the planning laws are undergoing reviews, the council is reported to be reticent to consider applying TPOs.

For years, there are only two trees in the Clondalkin area protected by TPOs.

The council’s Tree Management Policy 2021-2026 (“Living with Trees”) is available online.

It’s a lovely publication generally giving the council’s policy and protective attitude towards all trees in the South Dublin area (not just Clondalkin) – to protect, cherish, and appreciate, for lots of wholesome reasons.

Trees existed long before humans walked our planet.

They are an important part of our heritage. Our ancestors valued various species of Ireland’s trees, for example the Druids before St Patrick arrived here in 432AD.

The druids considered some trees sacred, especially ash trees. Living Irish heritage includes poems learned years ago in our Primary Schools, in both English and Irish.

“Trees” by Joyce Kilmer is just one. Other poems, such as the 18th century “Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan aghmad?/Lament for Kilcash” mourned the ransacking of Irish local timber forests.

Such natural resources were used to construct trading ships, warships and global exploration craft by nations whose power and interests lay in those directions.

As “Kilcash” indicates, with the trees gone, life itself was depleted.

The poem “Trees” was famously rendered in song by the American bass-baritone Paul Robeson.

Still true today, timber warms us twice – first when we cut down a tree, and second when we burn the timber in our hearths – and we use it to build our homes and make furniture.

Even though the price of timber products has increased greatly in recent times, we still use them to build homes in an effort to fulfil local housing requirements.

Science shows us that trees are truly amazing. Underground links exist between fungi and trees.

They form a symbiotic relationship to share food, protect other trees in a radius of about 180ft/54m, and to nurture saplings.

This below-ground system depends on “hub trees” – the oldest, tallest, most mature ones.

They are the main connections in the system. Felling mature, healthy trees destroys this vibrant underground system and takes years (or even centuries) to fully recover.

Cutting down a tree – especially a mature one like our now-gone Monterey Cypress in Corkagh Park – is a serious matter.

A single sapling will take years to accomplish all the good work of a mature tree.

Above ground, trees provide sleeping quarters and feeding places for many other animal and insect species who could be badly affected if the trees are felled.

Trees also provide us with their fruits and nuts in season, they shade us in sunny weather, and their leaf-litter becomes necessary nutritious elements for the soil when they shed their leaves in the autumn.

In ever more frequent devastation through flooding (as reported in the media) it is timely to remember that each tree is in effect a column of water, soaking it up from the land in which the tree grows.

Even by their breathing capacity, trees improve our environment by exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen.

The more mature trees we have, the cleaner the air. Many Clondalkin people still mourn the loss of the Monterey Pine and other mature trees in Corkagh Park.

To be fair, though, council officials have been swift to investigate when a tree is felled contrary to planning permission.

Of course, this depends on someone being aware of the situation and notifying the council in time to protect the tree, or trees.

That’s not always so. Also, the tree (or trees) may already be gone by the time the council is contacted.

At present, the only determent appears to be an affordable monetary fine on the developer.

Perhaps a better remedy could be an insistence to replace one felled tree with two others nearby, as well as imposing a heftier fine on the transgressor.

Clearly, we need to plant and grow more trees, especially now when climate change is upon us.

Fewer homes have gardens nowadays, so maybe we should contact all our county councillors asking them to request our local authority to plant more trees, preferably native deciduous ones, please?