Crann celebrates 20 years

It's difficult to believe that it's 20 years since Crann was established to raise awareness of trees, especially native broadleaves. Since then it has initiated a number of practical projects including its flagship venture, a pilot scheme which encouraged farmers and other landowners to plant broadleaves in South Leitrim. Known as the Local Project it was formed in 1990.

Funded by the Forests Service, the success of the project is now there to be seen reports Jan Alexander, founder member of Crann. The large attendance saw at first hand the excellent performance of the broadleaves when they visited two of the sites during a recent weekend of events organised to celebrate Crann's twentieth anniversary. It was impressive to walk under the canopy of a light filled forest that only 10 years ago had been a rushy field. Also of interest were the many pockets of naturally regenerating ash seedlings, ensuring that further planting will not be necessary. Most of the 16 forests established under the banner of the Local Project will be managed using the 'close-to-nature' principals. The main speaker at the seminar was Clarke Cunningham from Killyleigh, Co Down who discussed his sawmilling and furniture making business. He claimed that there is a boundless market for Irish hardwoods, while other speakers pointed out that not all broadleaves take 60-100 years to realise valuable dimensions. Clarke Cunningham called for a supply of alder and ash, which require relatively short rotations before they produce valuable timber.

Education and awareness are key aspects of Crann's mission and as part of the Local Project, transition year students from surrounding schools carried out a survey. They looked at issues such as import substitution and as a direct result a small sawmill has started up supplying timber from local woodlands to trades and craftspeople in the area.

As part of the Crann celebrations, an exhibition took place which included a film of the Local Project by Cathy Fitzgerald. It is available at €40 from the Leitrim Design House, Carrick-on-Shannon Tel: 07196 50550.