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Green Schools Archive
Looking Back - Our Green Flag Journey 2013
Our green school theme this year is biodiversity. Peadar Conway, a parent and tree expert, came to our school on the 8th of February 2013. He came to show us trees: Rowan, Japanese larch, fir, oak, ash and the mountain ash. In the past plantations of trees only had types of fir and this reduced the level of biodiversity in the forest.
Japanese Larch
One of the trees was the Japanese larch which came from Japan. The other was Rowan. It came from Alaska. It is said to bring good luck to give it to the couple who are getting married. It is not native to Ireland. The ash is native to Ireland. The wood of the ash is used to make hurleys. The mountain ash is also from Ireland and grows on the mountains. The ash’s roots are very strong and spread over a large area to hold it in place on a stormy night or day. The fir tree is native to Scandinavia. It is grown on mountains in Ireland. Today when forests are planted a variety of species are used, pathways are created and areas of grass are left. This allows for much greater biodiversity in our forests.
Hedges
He told us about hedges. Nowadays people are encouraged to plant beech and hawthorn to give variety of colour and also you are using native trees. The beech hedge is from Ireland. It is used for planting and goes well with the Hawthorn hedge
