Éanna Ní Lamhna on growing awareness of Ireland’s trees and woodland heritage

On National Tree Day, more than 2,000 primary schools will plant native holly saplings

Thu, 06 Oct, 2022 - 02:00

Mike McGrath Bryan

With the climate crisis continuing to unfold, and efforts to mitigate its impact being compromised by politics and ideology — see the push for a short-term liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal, or the refusal of the Government to keep data centres’ power usage in check — it’s more important than ever that emerging generations, keenly aware of the situation though they are, are informed of the natural world around them, from fauna to flora.

To that end, October 6 is National Tree Day, a day to educate and inform people of all ages on the biodiversity of Irish woodland areas, and the identification and propagation of Ireland’s native trees specifically. Éanna Ní Lamhna, president of the Tree Council of Ireland, discusses the initiative and its importance.

“This is one of the main events that the Tree Council of Ireland carry out every year, and what it has been set up for, developing since the 1980s, is improving our awareness and knowledge about trees. We have Tree Week in March, which is for everyone, but in October, we have National Tree Day, specially set aside to teach children about trees.

“We put it to the Department of Education, and they said yes, the schools could spend the whole day learning about trees, they could bring their pupils out on field trips, they could bring trees into the classroom.”

This year, one pillar of the initiative is the planting of 2,000 native holly-tree saplings, sent to primary schools around the country and sponsored, fittingly enough, by tree-logo’d supermarket SPAR. Ní Lamhna talks about reaching young people in schools, and fostering that kinship early on.

Eanna Ní Lamhna is a longtime advocate for Ireland’s natural resources

“So, schools go online, they take a pledge to say that they’re devoted to improving the environment, and learning all about it, then ask for the tree to be sent to them, as well as for colouring pages [drawn by artist Fatti Burke] to be sent, because you get 30 for the class and then they all add up together to be a great big mural. We pick a different native tree every year, and the Holly is a very small sapling, it can be put in an envelope and posted.”

One of 28 native Irish tree species, the holly is this year’s choice for planting at schools around the country, as part of a rotation of tree saplings issued annually — which has caused some primary schools in Ireland to have acquired quite the variety of native trees on their grounds.

“Over the years, we’ve picked different ones we’ve sent out alder, hawthorn, spindle, it’s the turn of the holly this year. Some of the schools that I’ve been to visit have planted a tree each year that they’ve got one, and they’re building up a nice little growth of different native trees in the area they’ve picked for planting the trees, so you wouldn’t want to be sending out the same tree every year.

WHAT IS...

Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on earth, their communities and the habitats they live in.

It relates to the idea of ecosystems - the interconnected web of natural processes and species.

Monoculture - where one crop or animal is farmed over large areas - is a less stable system than one which includes more biodiversity.

Less biodiverse habitats lead to species extinction.

“There’s a physical male holly tree, and the physical female, there’s no way of knowing until it’s seven years old, if it’s a female tree, it’ll have berries, and if it’s a male tree, it will just have pollen that will pollinate the female trees, so you take your chances on that.”

The importance of planting and repopulating native tree species in the current circumstances can’t be overstated, both for environmental reasons, and for raising continued awareness of our native tree species — it’s the latest iteration of millions of years of propagation.

“After the Ice Age, when Ireland became separated from mainland Europe and separated from Britain, trees spread naturally. In other words, birds ate berries and excreted seeds, or the seeds blew in the wind as in the case of willow or birch. They moved in slowly, they came step by step with all the attendant biodiversity, the creepy-crawlies, the insects, the birds, everything associated with those trees came with them.”

Ní Lamhna is a longtime advocate for Ireland’s natural resources, familiar to generations from her appearances in Irish media on the topic, most notably the late-90s kids’ show Creature Feature. In overseeing the Tree Council of Ireland, she utilises her platform to discuss the work and effort that the group puts in in terms of raising awareness and action of native trees across Irish society.

“We’re trying to improve awareness of trees and encourage people to plant trees in the right place — the wrong tree in the wrong place can be a terrible nuisance.”