Coillte defends recent deforestation in Cratloe

The scale of the recent deforestation at Cratloe Woods has prompted a staunch defence from Coillte after locals expressed concerns.
Daniel O’Brien from Coillte insists the recent deforestation was fully licensed and certified by the forestry service and also involved a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement, including consultation with Clare County Council and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Acknowledging that the amount of forest cleared, approximately the size of two or three football fields, appeared quite large to visiting pedestrians, Mr O’Brien pointed out it extended to 9.6 hectares out of total of 363 hectares in the forest. This is the only clearfell planned within Cratloe in the 2011-2015 period.
Mr O’Brien confirmed the area cleared will be planted again within the next two years and should be covered with trees again in about five years.
“People create new walks in a forest all the time. When one walk closes up another one opens up elsewhere. Clearfelling has been ongoing in Cratloe forest for the last 20 years and there hasn’t been a clearfell at this location for a few years.
Asked about Coillte’s plans to open a new entrance further up the Gallows Hill road to facilitate tree felling earlier this year, Mr O’Brien explained the company had intended to open a new access road to avoid travelling on the existing route, which is used by a lot of walkers.
However, following concerns expressed by Clare County Council about the safety of this proposed road, the company decided to transport large volumes of timber through its Meelick entrance.
Cratloe Community Council had questioned the impact of a new entrance, while locals felt the entrance wasn’t suitable for heavy goods vehicles because of the presence of a bend in the road.
Clare County Council stated planning permission would be necessary for the new entrance and one local engineer wasn’t happy with the proposal.
Councillor PJ Ryan told The Clare Champion that locals were surprised over the scale of tree felling at Cratloe Woods and noted no one seemed to know the reason for the large transportation of timber in recent weeks.
He queried if it would have been more prudent to leave more trees in the forest to facilitate the proposed energy facility in Shannon, which may come into operation in 12 or 24 months.
A Mayo businessman met with Shannon area councillors recently, discussing his proposal for an €85 million green energy plant in the town, which he says has the potential to deliver a massive economic boost.
Shannon is the favoured location for Sean Daly of Carbon Sole Energy for an €85 million Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant and he says the town was only selected after much thought.
“We did an assessment over the last three years looking at locations all along the west coast. Generally our starting point was where there was concentrations of forestry, potential for supply and potential to increase supply also. We looked at county development plans and the Clare County Development plan is very definitive with respect to renewable and green energy. It covers everything from tidal to wind to biomass and you also had the Clare Limerick Energy Agency.”