Let’s have native trees, not Sitka ‘war zones’

I WAS pleased to see the letter (June 25) by Brendan Kelly on our massive monoculture plantations of Sitka spruce. Much of the countryside, notably in west Cork, has been visibly and invisibly ruined by these dark and gloomy forests, almost devoid of wildlife.

Even worse is the effect of the clearfelling, leaving behind a scarred and torn landscape that wouldn’t look out of place in your average war zone.

Such land management surely does not contribute to combating climate change — for every ounce of carbon locked up in the wood of these trees, how much is lost in the machinery-intensive and soil-damaging harvest?