trees in peril

Trees left to their own devices, perhaps with a subtle intervention from the tree surgeon from time to time, are the loveliest things. They look glorious and they help filter out the noxious gases created by cars and so on. The trees above had their full canopy until a couple of years ago and looked superb. As you see, they are raised up in a small park away from the pavement and road, and so could have been left pretty much to their own devices. Imagine my dismay when tree surgeons came along, commissioned by Dublin City Council Parks Dept, and cut away well over 50% of the canopy, leaving only the uppermost part of the crown. It was unnecessary. It spoilt the appearance of the trees and such vigorous pruning makes them more susceptible to disease. For those who live along this road, it reduces the ecological benefits of these trees. During the same brutal exercise at least two trees were cut down.

The only reason I heard for this drastic act of vandalism was that a resident who has a garden behind these trees complained to DCC about the number of leaves landing in his garden! Enough said. Another reason that has been brought up in the past, though it wasn't given on this occasion, was that children go into this small park and couldn't be seen by their parents, who feared there might be child molesters at loose in it. This one is priceless, because the only way around it is to remove every opaque surface in the world so that children can be seen all the time. One might start with their bedrooms, because children are infinitely more likely to be abused at home (98%?) by family or friends than by a stranger in a park.

One final reason for ruining or destroying trees in Ireland -- it's a national past time along with drinking and horse racing -- is that the country gets very little sun. Therefore anything that reduces the amount of sun falling on the ground, or rather onto the skin, is resented and has to give way. This explanation was given in an Irish horticultural journal, so it comes from a good source.

To put these remarks in context, Ireland has less tree cover than anywhere else in Europe, thanks originally to the prolific tree cutting of the English. However, in recent times a great deal of planting has focused on ugly, serried ranks of conifers, which are not only foreign to the soil, they look ugly and do little or nothing for local wildlife.

So far as the trees we do have are concerned, I just wish people would learn to love and value them and stop deforming them when it isn't necessary.