Sligo school children plant trees at their local forest ravaged by Storm Éowyn

A group of 51 schoolchildren from Senior Infants and First Class at St. Patrick's National School, Calry were invited to take part in this tree planting initiative, and so with trowels and shovels in hand, they took to the work with great enthusiasm, learning about their environment along the way.
'Coillte, over the past five years, have been doing a big biodiversity restoration project here at Hazelwood, removing the invasive rhododendron and some of the non-native conifers broadleaves from this really special alluvial woodland,' says Karen Woods, who isthe Biodiversity, Conservation and Delivery Lead with Coillte. 'We're here today to give a little helping hand, planting some alder, birch, a little oak in the woodland - it's great to have so many people out helping with this work.'
Getting the children out on a forest adventure is part of the curriculum for the children at Calry NS, as they have an area of woodland on their own school grounds which they explore on a regular basis. Over the years various art and nature projects have taken place there and it's so important for them to have a relationship with their natural surroundings, for many different reasons.
'People talk about the post-Covid era a lot, we as teachers see a need for children to be outside and to be able to experience a little bit of peace and quiet and nature and to explore and to have a little bit of freedom, that's really important,' says Alice McNassor, teacher at Calry NS.
'All of this will help to improve the kids' awareness of what's on their doorstep. I'd say that a lot of them will go back now and start to look a little bit closer at the trees and see what we have and how it compares to what we've seen here today.'
The children are having a great time. Having walked around a kilometre along woodland paths into the woods themselves they hang on to every word as instructions are given.
Tree saplings are distributed and the team of volunteers are paired up with groups of children to supervise the planting. When asked what they think of the trip to the woods, even a passing shower of rain doesn't dampen their enthusiasm.
'There's lots of trees and plants and it's all very green and brown .... it's really quiet and the birds are chirping .... we're trying to replant trees because there aren't many trees (in this part of the forest) and we're doing our best .... it's really great, way better than being in the classroom,' are just some of the replies, with one child saying that he definitely wants to be a forester when he grows up.
If he does follow that path, he'll be treading the same route taken by local Coillte forest manager Brian McGarraghy, who has overall responsibility for Hazelwood. His team have had lots to deal with over the past six months between extensive storm damage to the threat of forest fires during the recent dry spell. So he's delighted to have a good news story to deal with.
'Hazelwood to me is one special place,' says Brian. 'I've been a forester for 40 years and in my years of forestry I've never witnessed anything like it,' he says of the damage caused by Storm Eowyn, when hundreds of trees fell.
'It's taken a lot of work and a lot of good people and we have it back reopened again for the last month or so. It's such a pleasure to see young kids in here, enjoying their day out and they're learning something. Hazelwood is one of our flagship sites, I think people really enjoy and love it. It's great to see it being appreciated.'
Coillte recently received a National Biodiversity Award for their work here at Hazelwood, and when you see the work that has been undertaken, including the removal of large amounts of invasive species like laurel and rhododendron it's easy to see why. Hard work over several years has begun to bear fruit. And now, as the forest benefits from the rain that has followed the long period of dry weather, it has never looked as well.
The forest has rebounded amazingly well from the storm damage caused earlier in the year, and when you see happy faces and hear excited voices as saplings are planted here, it does remind you that the simplest things can often give the most pleasure.
Hopefully, more schools will take a day out in Hazelwood before too long, introducing the children to the nature on our doorstep and encouraging them to build a healthy relationship with our environment.

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