FRONT LINE

RESTORING THE HIBERNIAN PINE FOREST BY DANIEL BUCKLEY

Up until recently the Scots pine was a species that was generally referred to in the past tense in Irish ecology due to its presumed extinction during the medieval period. Reintroduced trees, mainly from Scotland, occupied a contested space. Were they a returned former native or non-native species? This is mainly due to the debate over how the species apparent extinction came about. Was it climate change? Was it competition from other tree species or was it caused by human activities? However, the discovery of an apparent surviving native population in the Burren, Co. Clare by researchers at Trinity College Dublin has completely changed how we view the place of Scots pine in the Irish landscape. It is once again as highly valued as it was in the ancient Brehon laws.

Saplings of native Burren stock are now being commercially grown, albeit in limited numbers, and are being planted as part of native woodland planting schemes here. But if we are to truly restore Scots pine as a functioning wild species that can reproduce, live and die without human assistance and as part of a pine forest community of plants, animals and fungi, we need to take an ecological approach.

Scots pine is widely distributed across Eurasia, from Ireland in the far west to Russia in the far east and Northern Norway down to Southern Spain. It is clearly adapted to living in a variety of environments and climates. It is principally a light demanding pioneer species that can be easily out-competed by more vigorous and shade tolerant tree species on better soils. It generally becomes the dominant tree species in the canopy in difficult environments where other trees would struggle, such as mountain slopes, peatlands and areas of shallow and thin soils.

The seeds are small, dispersed by the wind and require areas of exposed soil to germinate. This is usually created by disturbance events such as a fire, land subsidence or by water. In Ireland the native Burren pines are growing in open woodland on limestone Karst with little or no soil. Reintroduced Scots pine stock has been observed regenerating on cutaway bog, rocky and gravelly lakeshores and thin peat

PINE Ireland's FOREST

soils in the uplands (where grazing pressure is low). These environments are where pine wood communities could be restored, using seed from the native Burren trees, historical plantings and wild trees from Scotland.

What would a restored pine woodland community look like in Ireland? Work by Dr Jenni Roche found that pine stands in Ireland fell into four distinct vegetation groups, three of which corresponded to wild pine communities in Scotland and Southern Norway.

The first group was a Scots pine dominated woodland community with sessile oak on sloped terrain with holly, downy birch, rowan, bilberry and hard fern. This woodland type is similar to acid oak woodland communities here and may be a proxy for pine-oak woodlands that were present in many upland areas in the past.

The second group was an open pine and downy birch woodland on peat soils with a field layer of ling heather, bell heather, bilberry, crowberry, cottontail grass, bog rosemary and cranberry. This corresponds to bog woodland, a species of European importance and historically was found on raised bogs in Ireland.

The third group was the open Scots pine woodlands on the limestone Karst in the Burren, with hazel, hawthorn, ivy, honeysuckle and bramble. The Burren stands are similar to pine woodlands found in southern Norway.

The fourth group was a pine dominated woodland community on acidic uplands soils with rowan, bracken, ling heather, hard fern, bilberry, molinia, bent grass and tormentil. Although the Irish stands in this group are of planted origin, they may be a good proxy for past upland pine woods that grew above the altitudinal limit for oak woodland.

The loss of our pine woods also resulted in the loss of pine specialist species, the highest profile species being the capercaille,

References Reilly, E., 2008. An ever-closing gap? Modern ecological and palaeoecological contributions towards understanding the Irish post-glacial insect fauna. The Irish Naturalists' Journal, 29, pp.63-71. Roche, J.R., 2019. Recent findings on the native status and vegetation ecology of Scots pine in Ireland and their implications for forestry policy and management. Irish Forestry, 76(1&2), pp.29-54.

Native scots pine growing in Rock Forest, the Burren, Co. Clare by Daniel Buckley Caledonian pine forest in Glen Affric, Scotland by Daniel Buckley Tetrao Urogallus, Glenfeshie, Scotland

a forest grouse. Remains of five now extinct beetle species associated with deadwood of old pine woodlands in Europe were recorded in Irish archaeological timbers by the late Dr Eileen Reilly.

We can speculate on the loss of other pine specialist plants and animals here that are still present in Scotland, such as the crested tit, “Scottish crossbill”, pine hoverfly and twinflower. Recently the ostrich plume feather moss, associated with pine woods in Scotland, was found in Mweelrea, Co. Mayo. A ghost of former upland pine woodlands there perhaps? Species like the Irish coal tit and longeared owl that do well in modern conifer plantations here may have been associated with our pine woods in the past. The restoration of extensive wild pine forests in Ireland, in our uplands, limestone karst and cutaway bogs may also offer us the opportunity to restore some of these lost pine associated species.