Blogging
From Abroad

Ireland once had forest cover somewhere close 80%, which is very close to what West Virginia is now. Ireland has nearly the same land area as WV. So in many ways Ireland and WV are similar. About 150-200 years ago Ireland was completely cut over and converted to Farmland. In the last 50-60 years ago the Irish government has made drastic attempts to reclaim much of their former forests. However in the process they have discovered Sitka spruce and they have been planting it in a plantation setting since. Now they are leaning away from such a heavy reliance on sitka spruce and moving towards a more natural landscape. Planting their native species of hardwoods/broadleaves, however their dilemma is that the native species do grow anywhere near as fast as the sitka spruce. From an economical stand point it is impossible to plant something that will take 100 years to produce a merchantable product, instead of the exotic that can be harvested in about 30-40 years.

While we are here we will be observing the various processes that are involved with Irish forestry, from planting to harvesting. We also are dealing with many of the policies that are involved with Irish forestry.