Trees, For Example, Ash
Article originally published in Rupture 11 as part of the special feature on Land:
In the previous issue of Rupture, I wrote about trees, or the dangerous pitfalls of profit-driven tree plantations. Poorly planned wood farming can have devastating effects on the ecosystem. Monoculture tree plantations cannot substitute the native biodiversity that exists within old-growth forests. But one specific tree in Ireland is already dying at an alarming rate - the ash or Fraxinus excelsior or fuinseog.
Most people in Ireland who are interested in nature or hurley will have heard of ash dieback by now. Ash trees have a long history in Irish culture. In Celtic mythology, it was a sacred tree, and in the present day, it makes light and strong hurleys.
Ash dieback is a tree disease caused by a fungus (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus). The fungus will land on the leaves and make its way inward into the tree - the foliage wilts and the branches become discolored until the tree eventually dies, and in some cases, collapses. Younger trees are more likely to die from the infection. According to Teagasc, the majority of ash trees in Ireland will die from this disease in the next two decades.
The disease was first found in 2012 in county Leitrim on imported ash trees from Europe. Just over a decade later, ash dieback has spread to every county on the island. Driving through Leitrim, the damage is stark - ivy-covered dead ash trees, occasionally felled and piled on the side of the road, are hard to miss.
A deep-rooted problem
Tree plantations were not the only reason behind this environmental tragedy in Ireland - or mainland Europe, where this disease first arrived in the 1990s from Asia. The ever-increasing flow of commercial agricultural imports and exports, which often prioritises profit at the expense of environmental protection, means that new species are frequently being introduced into environments that did not evolve to handle them. This includes pathogenic fungal species like H. fraxineus.
In the same vein, monocultures, tree plantations, imported trees and other risky practices are accompanied by poor environmental regulations and too slow responses when ecological disasters inevitably happen. Ash imports from mainland Europe into Ireland and the UK continued for years despite the disease being widespread among European trees already. On the EU level, regulations for preventative measures against pathogen and pest spread only came into effect in 2019.
In Ireland, part of the widespread devastation felt in response to ash dieback is owed to the widespread planting of ash that was happening up until 2012. An initiative had been set up, the Afforestation Programme, to promote planting native trees and in the two decades prior, nearly 20,000 hectares of ash had been planted. Only a lot of those trees were clonal trees (genetically identical), planted for timber. Harvesting ash, especially in infested plantations, became complicated and dangerous work. Even among trees that were not planted for timber, many have been destroyed in an attempt to contain the spread.
The tragedy of ash dieback, of course, is not confined to the tree itself. It is estimated that ash supports 955 other species, including animals and non-pathogenic fungi and bacteria, and other plants like garlic and bluebell. Over 100 of these species will decline and possibly become extinct as dieback kills off the ash population. The native biodiversity of Irish forests is already under severe pressure.
This brings us back to the starting point. Forest cover in Ireland is at a meager 11% of the total land area. The majority of trees planted are non-native trees like Sitka spruce trees, planted for timber production. Often, seeds are propagated in other countries and imported back as saplings, exposing them to the same risks as ash. Environmental Pillar, an environmental coalition in Ireland, has expressed concern that the Irish oak could meet a similar fate to the ash under current practices.
Hope for European ash
There is some hope yet for the ash population of Ireland. While many ash plantations were decimated by the disease, some trees have been found to be naturally resistant or tolerant to the fungus. The ash tree is a striking example of the importance of preserving the natural genetic diversity of plants and the consequences of poor environmental planning in our present systems of production.
In simple terms, in a genetically diverse group of ash trees that have naturally mixed and propagated over time, some trees will be susceptible to the disease but some will survive. Those that survive can continue to propagate and maintain the population. In plantations, trees are selected for certain qualities and often propagated from near identical parent trees so if the parents turn out to be susceptible to a disease, the whole plantation would not stand a chance.
Once again, the devastating impacts of poor ecological planning, loose environmental protections, and profit-driven agriculture should act as motivation to prioritize the environment and native biodiversity. Ash is now, rightfully, receiving plenty of public attention and resources in an attempt to mitigate total disaster and restore the tree to Ireland. These include guidance on management and funding for necessary scientific research.
Nonetheless, the forestry and forest management approach in Ireland remains too narrow and shortsighted. Nature cannot be saved one tree at a time. With additional pressures like climate change, extreme weather patterns, and increasing demand for wood, the required approach has to account for the ecosystem as a whole. The solution cannot simply be breeding programmes and safety regulations. The solution requires an entire shift in our approach with nature, including slower production and measures like protection for old growth forests, and integrating environmental research every step of the way.
R.S. is a member of Dublin City Centre branch of People Before Profit and part of the RISE network.