There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says:
‘The best time to plant trees is 20 years ago, the second best time is now!”
Here in Arus Muire, Clonakilty, West Cork, we have been responding to that ‘second best’ time. During the winter/early spring months just gone – the Irish tree planting season – almost 400 trees were planted on part of the large green space surrounding the relatively recently built convent.
Back in 2019 the community was asked if they would get involved in a local initiative to plant 20,000 trees in and around the town of Clonakilty. The hope was to plant these trees on a mix of public land, green spaces of housing estates, business properties, sports clubs and private gardens. The focus was to be on native trees, all in an effort to support wildlife and make a positive response to the impacts of climate change.
‘We want to put the “Coillte” [wood] back in “Cloich Na Coillte” and plant as many trees as possible in response to the ‘2020 vision’ call in relation to the environment,’ was how one of the voices behind the initiative described it.
The Arus Muire community readily agreed to provide some land. In fact there was a high level of enthusiasm about the project. Planting trees is surely a win-win for everyone and everything as they help reduce carbon in the atmosphere, contribute to biodiversity, reduce flood risks and are also so beautiful to look at! We were all set to see trees being planted on site in the early months of 2020. But, as with so many projects, COVID arrived and plans had to be changed. Finally, all got underway two years later!
The effort at contributing to biodiversity – in the variety of native trees planted and what they can host – was mirrored in the diversity of people and groups gathered to plant. People from the newly formed tree planting group worked alongside people from the tidy towns and, in no small part, the sisters on site as well as the local Ukrainian community. All gathered on a number of occasions to plant. A strong sense of community and that sense of mission that is nearly always present when doing something new and necessary, pervaded the various days’ activities.
Some dug holes, some planted trees, and some did both. Others carefully placed a rabbit guard around each tree. The rather large population of rabbits on site made this latter activity an absolute necessity if any of our efforts are to bear fruit!
A mix of native deciduous trees interspersed with native conifer were planted. Wild cherry, the lovely rowan, oak, hornbeam, downey birch, the stately scots pine, a yew and juniper, alongside black and hawthorn are settling down on the slope.
A small number of the trees were fairly well established having been growing in pots for some years, while the rest were bare rooted and ranged in size from little more than a foot to 6 feet.
Two well established arbutus also known as the strawberry tree – native to the west Cork/Kerry region – give an extra sense of richness to the mix.
And of course, there was the very welcome cup of tea [or coffee] and some home baking to round off each day’s work.
Now at the height of summer the new sapling trees have leaves, giving us all a hint of a future, not one that most of us will actually see, but one all of us can believe in!
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. (Warren Buffet)
Margaret Twomey
Southern Province
