A forest is the finest thing in the world: it is the expression of nature in the highest form: it is so full of beauty and of variety.

– Augustine Henry

When Laura and Peter Fletcher established their woodland adjacent to the River Suir at Tickincor Lower, Co Waterford, in 1995, they decided to take the long view and plant broadleaves. Laura, who is a grandniece of Augustine Henry, the renowned botanist, plant collector, sinologist and forester, felt that they should live up to his belief that “a forest is the finest thing in the world”.

The memory of Henry has remained with her since she was a child from visiting his homeland in Northern Ireland or being reminded of his importance as a plant collector every time she encountered rare and remarkable trees, named after him, in botanic gardens and parklands around the world.

Henry would have approved of her approach in establishing the family forest in Tickincor Lower along with Peter. While the main objective was to grow a quality productive woodland, they were also influenced by non-wood factors, such as climate change and soil stability as the site is on a floodplain.

“The land is vulnerable to repeated flooding by the Suir, so establishing a woodland provided soil stabilisation,” she explained during a recent tour of the woodland.

“Long-term objectives included playing our part in climate change mitigation, as Peter and I believe that oak has a major role to play as an efficient long-term sequester of carbon,” she said.

However, she admits that when they established the woodland, their knowledge of species selection was limited. “So we looked around us for inspiration. History, heritage and place played a part in our species choice,” she said. Broadleaves are an important feature of this landscape from nearby Derrinlaur, or middle oak, to Kilcash across the River Suir in south Tipperary.

Oak

The landscape cried out oak, she maintained, and the Fletchers obliged in the full knowledge that neither she nor Peter nor their children will see the woodland at its mature majestic finest. “The woodland is for the present and future generations,” she said, pointing to her two grandchildren Brian and Conor skipping between the rows of oak, “but like all of us, they will enjoy their own chapter of the journey.”

The land was planted in 1995 with 10.2ha of oak, 0.6ha of cherry and a small area of Sitka spruce. However, while all the trees survived, they were underperforming and needed intensive management. “We had the good fortune to meet the forestry consultant Ted Horgan, who provided the expertise and advice to steer us along the right path,” she said.

When Ted began his restoration programme in 2010, the woodland had suffered from late spring frost damage and squirrel attack. “In addition, well intentioned but flawed shaping [or pruning]merely exacerbated the condition of the crop,” he said. “As a result, almost all the trees were forked and had disproportionately large steeply angled branches.”

He began to gradually turn the woodland into a productive crop. He selected 250 potential final crop trees for pruning which would deliver at least 6m of blemish-free logs in the shortest possible rotation and planned a phased thinning programme.

“Thinning broadleaves has to be carefully carried out, as abrupt changes in stand density caused by heavy thinning can be a contributory factor to the development of shake [cracks or defects in timber], so gradual opening up of oak stands is recommended,” he said.

Ted is looking at other ways to enhance the crop. “Because of the large growing space required and the natural tendency of oak to produce epicormic shoots, consideration will be given to the formation of an understorey of shade-tolerant species, such as beech or hornbeam.”

Augustine Henry would approve of the hornbeam introduction, maintained Laura, quoting from Sheila Pim’s biography in which Henry encouraged oak underplanting “with low-growing coppice of trees like hornbeam”.

Cherry

The Fletchers’ decision to plant cherry was based on aesthetics as much as economics, since the species provides magnificent colour when in flower and later in the year before leaf fall. Like the oak, the crop was underperforming when Ted took over the management. “Most of the trees had poor form and thinning had not been carried out on time,” he said. Also, as with many cherry plantations around the country, canker was widespread.

“Aware of the canker infection, we removed the damaged trees and selected 300 final crop trees per hectare,” he explained. “A heavy crown thinning was then carried out. This involved the removal of trees exhibiting canker symptoms and trees competing strongly with the final crop trees, thus facilitating the development of large crowns in these trees, which in turn translates into rapid diameter growth.”

Ted found that the compressed crowns of the final crop trees were at first slow to respond to their new-found freedom “but they subsequently made good progress and are now on track to produce some valuable material in time”, he said.

Cherry has a much shorter rotation than oak and he maintained that a well-managed stand growing on suitable sites should reach an average 50cm diameter – at 1.3m above ground level – in 60 years. Cherry is an extremely valuable furniture species and retaining it beyond 60 years exposes it to windthrow and heart rot.

Field day

Ted Horgan’s management and the Fletchers’ perseverance are now paying dividends. This was acknowledged when the woodland won best forest in Munster in the 2017 RDS Forest Service Forestry Awards. Foresters and forest owners who wish to learn more about broadleaf management can visit the Fletcher woodland on Friday 28 April when Ted Horgan leads a field day organised by the Society of Irish Foresters.

Participants should meet at the car park of Nagle’s Bar, Main Street, Kilsheelan, Co Tipperary, at 10am. Further details on www.societyofirishforesters.ie or email info@soif.ie.