Poetic tales from deep inside the woodlands

The Tree Council of Ireland has named today as Tree Day. And the theme for this year’s event is ‘If Trees Could Talk’. I was given this anonymous poem by a friend some years ago. It was, apparently, found posted on a tree in a Spanish park.

I AM A TREE

You who would pass me by

and would raise your hand

against me, remember

That I am the heat of your

hearth on cold nights,

The friendly shade

screening you

from summer heat,

The source of

refreshing draughts,

The beam of your house,

The board of your table

The bed on which you lie

The timber of your boat:

The handle of your hoe,

The wood of your cradle

And the shell of your coffin

HARM ME NOT...

And if trees could talk perhaps, like the eloquent tree represented in this poem, they might take the opportunity to remind us of all that they do for us.

Apart from their many pragmatic uses, trees have always held a special place in myth and religion in Ireland. Poets, artists, druids, gardeners have all celebrated the tree.

And half the letters of the ancient Irish Ogham alphabet take their names from trees.

In many parts of the country there are fairy trees, Mass bushes, trees that stand sentinel at holy wells whitethorn bushes which are best left alone as they were believed to indicate those places where witches the passed by.

Only time can create a tree and in the case of the mighty oak it’s said that its time span involves the 300 years it takes to grow, 300 more to mature and another 300 years to die.

It is estimated that over 1,600 Irish townlands contain the word doire or oakwood.

But our reverence for trees isn’t just something that happened in the dim, distant past.

In 2009 the shorn stump of a pine tree in Rathkeale was thought to be like the shape of a cloaked woman, compared by some to the Virgin Mary and devotees who flocked to the site persuaded church authorities not to fell the tree.

Because of their longevity, trees have always been silent witnesses to the events of history, both large and small.

They personify beauty, romance rebirth and mystery. In times gone by trees and the forests which contain them have sometimes had a more sinister reputation, regarded as places of danger which housed wolves, malicious fairies and who knew how many other unseen threats.

For many, these dense, self-contained areas symbolised all that was unmanageable, unknowable about nature and must be cleared, manicured, manipulated to allow for the march of civilisation.

There are parts of the Amazon where such slash and burn techniques are still all too frequent today.

Mary Keenan has been the director of The Tree Council of Ireland for the last four years. I talked to her about this special day of celebration.

* Mary, this year’s event seems to have placed a lot of emphasis on schools and encouraging children’s appreciation of our trees?

>>Yes, definitely. We think that’s really important we’ve designed special quizzes and competitions for children and their teachers, may of them around the theme ‘If Trees Could Talk’.

“Trees are an integral part of our lives. And this is a lovely time of year to be out in the woods when the leaves are just beginning to turn. And families can enjoy a walk in the woods for free.

* I believe that the research you have gathered as a part of the Heritage Tree Project is also in the process of being compiled as a book.

>>Yes, and we are hoping to release it in the middle of 2013. The idea began with our other project, ‘Champion Trees’ — those that are the biggest, tallest, widest or oldest in the country. We surveyed over 12,000 trees. But we realised there were trees that while they didn’t fit into that particular category, were special for other reasons. Our associate Aubrey Fennell has spent the last ten years recording them.

* Although we mightn’t always realise it, trees really are a part of our identity, aren’t they?

>>Oh yes. And Heritage Trees can be found everywhere, in native woodlands, parklands and old estates. They are often all that remains as a legacy of some of our most historic landscapes. Mapping and collecting data on this u unique natural asset is a crucial first step toward a more enlightened approach to our treescape We are all guardians of these special trees.

* What sort of trees qualify for inclusion as Heritage Trees.

>>There’s the Hungry Tree at Kings Inn Dublin for instance. It looks as if it’s consuming a bench and of course, Lady Gregory’s famous Autograph Tree at Coole Park, a copper beech which has been signed by WB Yeats, his brother Jack, George Bernard Shaw, Sean O Casey and others.

* There are so many stories about trees that are connected with other worldly forces.

>>Trees have a very special presence and place in our history. Some years ago I heard a story from Belfast where John DeLorean had his famous car factory. Apparently a fairy tree was uprooted in the building of his factory and local people said at the time that no luck would come to him because of it. Needless to say, none of them were particularly surprised when his venture failed.

* What’s your own background Mary?

>>I trained in horticulture and my father loved trees. He served on the Tree Council Board too. He put aside a part of our farm for planting trees and he created an ornamental garden. There’s an old oak on our land that we’ve always loved, my great grandfather planted it. For me that tree has always illustrated the connection with ancestry and living history. I often think that oak knew people I would love to have known.

* Do you think there’s enough legislation in Ireland to protect our trees?

>>No, and that’s part of our brief. Tree preservation legislation needs to be looked at much more carefully and proactively. But the Tree Council of Ireland is more than just another lobbying group. Our members are professional people from many different backgrounds, farmers, GAA and ICA members and the first stage to better protection is mapping and collection data.”