Re: Lack Of Trees In Irish And British Countrysides

"jl" <jl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message news:4f9cfb5854jl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article <68johfF2thkejU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>   Hal Ó Mearadhaigh. <homestud@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Someone else wrote:
>> > On Thu, 8 May 2008 16:57:04 +1000, "FarmI" <ask@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 be given>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> Ireland's population grew to around 8 million. But that had little to
do
>> with the state of the forests. Disease and over harvesting of trees
were
>> the main causes of the deforestation.
>
> As Ireland had no coal, the needs of 8 million people for charcoal and
> cooking woulkd certainly damage the forests. Peat was available of
course
> - but only after the forests had made room for it.

Plus I'd imagine that Ireland must be the same as Britain in that whatever

deforestation took place in the second half of the second millenium was 
deforestation of what little remained of the woodland cover. Most of 
Britain's had already gone by 1500AD because of pastoral agriculture; the 
need for resources; and even possibly natural climatic effects within the 
last 5000 years or so. This website claims (I imagine it can only be 
guesswork) that the original forests had been halved by 500BC and was down

to around just 15% by the 1080s. Perhaps degree may have been different
but 
surely Iron Age and first millenium Ireland couldn't have been that 
different from Britain at that time?

http://www.stewardwood.org/woodland/tree_loss.htm

Allan