The Wild Woodland

Wild woodlands are not necessarily everyone's favorite place. Sometimes it's because we shudder when we pass by them because of the old fairy tales where the dark wood represented an evil presence; Hansel and Gretel leaving the breadcrumbs as their only means of finding their way back out of the forest. And people that live in towns have a built-in fear of the unbridled and uncontrolled nature of the wild woodland.

The wild woodlands that we see by our roadsides often are impenetrable to everything but the smallest or most tenacious creatures. They have often been neglected for years and exude a dark, secretive aura. It's this intense secrecy, the veiled threat that panders to the childish fears in every one of us. It is recognized by everyone who has ever read the Wind in the Willows.

Unbridled

In her book, a Pagan place, Edna O’Brien describes the intense dark woods that she had to pass on her journey to school every morning: "the ground inside was shifty, a swamp where lilies bloomed. They were called dog-lilies. The donkey went in there to die and no wonder because the shelter was ample. No one would go in to bury it. It decomposed."

Unfortunately in modern-day Ireland, as in Britain, the "natural looking" edges of our woodlands are strewn with rubbish, garbage thrown out of cars by passing townies, big black bin liners full of god knows what, fertilizer bags, and I have even come across a dead cow that someone didn't want to go through the normal channels to dispose of.

The sad truth is that unless the forest is used for some kind of commercial gain, for timber production, or hunting game, nobody really cares. Even the government doesn’t recognize most of these places as a nature reserves.

This happens in some of our most beautiful, and most visited, tourist attractions. How many times have I seen signs pleading with visitors to take their litter home, only to find a stack of rubbish dumped out of a now-tidy-car, festering right there underneath the sign.

But these small bits of neglected forest are the only areas of potential natural woodland that we can visit most frequently, because they are on our doorsteps. They are the places we should be able to walk through with our dogs. Natural woodland is the perfect tranquility for a late afternoon stroll, to clear your head and gather your thoughts, to escape from prying eyes and walk hand-in-hand with the one you love. Their value should be more appreciated before the landowners tidy up and plant Sitka Spruce. Forestry in Ireland, like most other places on the planet, is planted for the purpose of making money. Some landowners, especially the state authority Coillte, are opening up their forest for public access. I would encourage any forest landowner to do the same.

Forest Ireland specializes in opening footpath access through dense, overgrown forests and woodlands.