'NDNSP Grove' Oak Glen Forest Park, County Tipperary
The Oak Glen Company is to plant over a million broadleaved trees beside the shores of Lough Derg in the Shannon basin. The woodland will provide sanctuary to local wildlife, an amenity for visitors and jobs for local people in sustainable woodland management and timber processing.
The project will also assist the North Dublin National School Project (NDNSP)New School Building Fund thjrough the designation of an 'NDNSP Grove' where, it is hoped, all the trees will be sponsored by parents, friends and supporters of the school.
The first Oak Glen project, launched in 1991, planted 120,000 oak trees on the site of the former Royal deer forest of Glencree in Co Wicklow. Little if anything of the original deer forest remained and the plan was to recreate something of that lost heritage. The public responded enthusiastically and sponsored the planting of 65 acres with oak trees. Many are now over ten feet tall!
The plans for Oak Glen II are more ambitious. The Oak Glen Company will plant at least 170 acres at Castletown beside Lough Derg in Co Tipperary, in partnership with a local farmer, Myles Sterling.
The tree-planting programme itself is innovative, using broadleaved trees of seven species: oak, ash, sycamore, maple, walnut, Spanish chestnut and cherry. By planting these trees on top-quality Tipperary farmland, the Oak Glen Company is confident of showing that a variety of hardwoods can be grown profitably in Ireland.
Castletown is located in rolling countryside west of Nenagh. Its centrepiece is a medieval castle, dating from the 1300s. Passing through the pier-gates and negotiating the unsurfaced tree-lined avenue to the castle is like taking a journey back in time.
Below the castle, the broad sweep of Lough Derg is dotted with islands and headlands, with a backdrop of the hills of Clare. The vista to the east is one of gentle hills and primeval hazelwoods that conceal a limestone quarry where the stone for the castle was mined.
Archaeological remains, invisible to the untrained eye, are a tangible link with Castletown's prehistoric past. Dr John Feehan, a noted landscape historian, spent several weeks here with his students in the 1980s and uncovered a number of ring-forts and also fulachta fiadha where Celtic communities boiled their venison and wild boar. In this enchanting landscape, Oak Glen II will restore a little of the woodland cover lost down through the ages.
An Ordnance Survey map, dated 1850 shows the Castletown lands. The farm, all 500 acres of it, including Cameron Island on Lough Derg, has changed hardly a jot in 150 years. The tree-lined avenue, the hazelwoods, the beechwood, the fields and boreens...they can all be seen today, as though time had stood still.
The castle is one of the oldest and best preserved tower houses in the country, and probably the longest lived in. It has been occupied continuously since the 1300s. The walls are eight feet thick.
Interestingly, while neighbouring castles were destroyed by Cromwell in the 17th century, Castletown survived, suggesting that the castle and lands were reserved for a military encampment. A rusty cannon ball, Probably Cromwellian, was found in the fields...
The hazelwoods carry clear signs of coppicing. Local people would have used the wood for all kinds of things, from basketry to housebuilding or simply for firewood, and they continued this tradition well into this century. It is hoped that the coppicing can be re-started, to employ local people, to carry on the tradition and save the woods from dereliction.
Oak Glen II will bring the project full circle; regenerating the hazelwoods and beechwood and managing them all sustainably. Local skills wil be used to produce value-added products. On thing at least that Oak Glen intends this project will demonstrate is that hardwood forestry is sustainable and of local employment value.
There are, for instance, many end-uses for the early thinnings that Oak Glen II will produce. The project cannot survive on forestry grants alone and will need continuous income. The challenge is to make a return on thinnings and ancillary activities, because the trees will not mature within a single lifetime.
The landowner Myles Sterling, is planning an enterprise involving the farm's entire resources, from Oak Glen II to the ancient woods, to the landscape and its history. He is putting trees in the ground and an income willl be made from the timber, but ultimately he hopes that with EU investment he will be able to develop a multi-disciplinary environmental education centre, drawing on Castletown's ecological, archaeological and cultural heritage.
"Farming is currently paying the bills, but down the road, there is scope for an educational, conservation and environmental venture," he says. He is hopeful that one of a nimber of educational institutes will pursue an interest in developing this objective jointly.
Some 15% of the farm is comprised of semi-natural habitats, including ash and hazel woodlands and old lakeshore grasslands. The grasslands support rare flora, including a variety of orchids and native juniper scrub, as well as interesting butterflies. These areas fall within a proposed Natural Heritage Area and a designated Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive.
The protected pastures and scrub will be maintained through grazing them lightly, ensuring that ash and willow do not take over and obliterate the orchids and the habitat for hunting peregrine and other wild birds. "Light grazing is critical to the continued survival of the listed grasslands," says Myles. "Leaving [ungrazed] them be would be as good as destroying them."
The project is both a practical and a visionary one and is already well on the way to developing an ecologically sustainable agricultural and sylvicultural regime at Castletown.
Unlike Oak Glen I in Glencree, Co Wicklow, where the majority of trees planted were oaks, Oak Glen II offers greater choice, though the oak, Ireland's national tree, remains the most significant one, at 25% of overall trees planted.
The others are cherry, Spanish chestnut, Norway maple and walnut. All these species produce excellent hardwood timber and are pleasing to the eye.
The distribution of tree species within the forest plots seems puzzling at first, but they are planted in a strategic digital matrix to maximise access and the commercial return from the forest. When growing trees to commercial age, it is customary to inter-plant with cheaper, fast-growing trees. These force the commercial timber to grow faster and straighter and are ultimately removed as thinnings. In Oak Glen II, the 'nurse' trees are Scots pine and larch, species that have some commercial value as thinnings, eg for stakes.
In a further refinement of the matrix, ash and some sycamore are being planted between the oak, Spanish chestnut, etc,and will be felled earlier. The finest trees will be allowed maximum opportunity to flourish.
John Brosnan, who is currently the Tree Council of Ireland's 'Urban Forestry Officer' is forestry advisor on the project. He is the brains behind the matrix and expects it to provide useful new information on the growing of broadleaves in Ireland. "The yield-class tables will be re-written by this experiment," says Myles Sterling, "because broadleaves have rarely been planted on such good land before."
Planting began in March/April 1999, when 37 acres were planted at Castletown, and continued through the winter season of 2000 with the planting of 15 acres in the hollow on Coolbawn Hill.
The winter planting benefited from a voluntary workcamp, organised by Barry Noyce. A further 15 acres was planted in the great field lying between the castle and the lakeshore, and some two-and-a-half acres inside the pier gates.
Trees will go into another 100 acres at least, in due course, with grey alder and red alder being considered for the next phase of the project.
So the planting of trees at Oak Glen II has already begun. You are invited to sponsor a tree for yourself, for one of your children or grandchildren, or for a loved one.
For just £50, you can have a tree in the designated 'NDNSP Grove' of this Irish woodland planted in your name, for you and your loved ones to enjoy for many decades to come. Is there any better way to maintain a living connection with your loved ones after you have gone?
Your framed certificate will also confirm your contrtibution to the creation of a permanent home for the NDNSP!
Pick up a leaflet from the school office.
Arrangements are being put in place to provide guided tours of the site certificate holders. Just contact Crann HQ ( 0509 - 51718 or
email: crann@oceanfree.net ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________
The New Oak Glen Forest at Coolbawn By Coilin Mac Lochlainn, Editor 'Releafing Ireland'
New plantations look their best in early August when the leaves are at their thickest and the trees are surrounded by tall grasses and wild flowers. In winter, you would scarcely believe you had a forest in the making.It is little more than a year since planting started at Coolbawn on the shores of Lough Derg, Co Tipperary, but already the green pastures planted with trees have taken on the appearance of scrub woodland. It is certain that the undergrowth is seething with mice and pigmy shrews; that badgers, foxes, stoats and long-eared owls have annexed the acres for their nightly patrols; and that birds of heathland and scrub, such as whitethroats,willow warblers and grasshopper warblers, will establish thriving colonies in the next few years.
Oak Glen II is not just about trees. It is growing a variety of broadleaves commercially on excellent soils, yes, but it takes cognisance of the fact that broadleaved woodlands, managed in a sustainable way, are repositories for all kinds of native birds, animals and insects. The principle of continuous cover forestry will prevail: there will be no clear-felling, and eventually the forest will hold a multitude of species and age-classes, the most valuable type of woodland in ecological terms.
Oak Glen II will go further, however. On this 500-acre holding of rolling pastures and switchback hills overlooking Lough Derg, with its tree-lined shores and islands, Myles Sterling, owner of the property, and the Oak Glen Company, in association with Crann, are creating a broadleaved forest that will in many ways resemble the original forest cover of the area. They are integrating new woodlands with existing pockets of ancient hazelwoods and mature beech stands.
Archaeological features such as ring forts and fulachta fiadha, those mysterious Bronze Age baths or cooking pits, and the medieval castle at Castletown, at one stage occupied by Cromwell's troops, will form an integral part of the development.
The lakeshore, with its semi-natural ash woodlands and wet meadows dotted with orchids, a candidate Special Area of Conservation under the EU habitats directive, will add a touch of spice to the mix.
Once the trees have settled down, and it will take them a few years to find their feet, the co-creators of this visionary project will develop ways of making the wonders of the park accessible to the public. It should be a most interesting task deciding where best to lay nature trails and walking routes in Coolbawn Forest Park (to give it a provisional title) - to take in the scenery, woodlands old and new, historic and archaeological artefacts, wild-flower and butterfly meadows and lakeshore habitats. Where is the best vantage point for observing the great crested grebes in courtship display? Should the tiny area of karst, populated with Burren-type flora, be included, or the 40-foot wych elm on the avenue, or perhaps the thickets on Cameron Island, where the rare Garden Warbler nests?
Parts of the park will be deliberately left unplanted, to provide sunny picnicking and recreational areas - if possible with views of the lake or beside ponds or water features, or in that curious hollow on Coolbawn Hill, cut off from everywhere. Unplanted glades, meadows and broad forest rides will provide niches for specialised plants and butterflies and for those woodland birds which, in common with humans, are happiest when they are near open ground. Not for them the dark dankness of the woodland depths where predators lurk undetected.
Already, plans are being laid to map and number the trees, because sponsors of trees in Oak Glen II are already enquiring about the location of their chosen trees. Yes, you can sponsor your own tree in Oak Glen II for yourself, a friend or a loved one. Your certificate will over 18 trees or more, only one of which will be selected to grow to maturity. It's millennium year, no better time to make your mark on posterity, and no better way to do it, in a long-lived forest that celebrates Ireland's past and is a symbol for a sustainable future.
Tax Relief for Individual and Corporate Donations
The Finance Act 2001 brought good news for the NDNSP in relation to tax effective giving. From the 6th April 2001 tax relief is available on donations of £200/?250 or more in any one tax year to the NDNSP ( and all eligible charities) from both individual and corporate donors.The minimum donation for the short tax year April to December 2000 has been reduced pro-rata to £148/?185. Tax relief is applied to these donations at the donor's marginal rate of tax. How the tax relief is applied depends on which taxpaying category the donor falls into:
1. In the case of PAYE taxpayers, the tax relief is applied at the marginal rate and is paid directly by the Revenue Commissioners to the NDNSP, which is both an 'Eligible Charity' and an 'Approved Body'.
This payment is made on receipt of the relevant "appropriate certificate". This certificate is an official form that is completed by the donor and by the NDNSP as the charity receiving the donation.
2. Individual taxpayers on self-assessment benefit directly from relief at the marginal rate by claiming the donation as a tax-deductible expense.
3. Corporate donors simply claim a deduction for the donation as if it were a trading expense.
So in the first case the tax relief is paid directly to the NDNSP whilst in cases two and three the donor receives the tax relief. The following examples will help to illustrate how the tax relief works in practice.
WHO CLAIMS THE TAX RELIEF?
EXAMPLE 1 PAYE Donor
Tom is a PAYE tax payer who donates £200 to the NDNSP. His marginal rate of tax is 42%. Tom fills in a form provided to him by the NDNSP giving details of his donation together with his PPS No. (new name for RSI No.) The NDNSP then uses the form to claim back the tax which Tom has already paid on this £200 directly from Revenue - £200x100/58 = £345 - £200 (donation) = £145 (tax associated with the donation) bringing the total value of the donation to the NDNSP up to £345.
EXAMPLE 2 Self-assessment Donor
Siobhan is self-employed and makes tax returns on a self-assessment basis. Her marginal rate of tax is also 42%. Siobhan makes a donation of £200 to the NDNSP over the course of the tax year by monthly standing order of £16.67. Siobhan receives a receipt from the NDNSP and when she fills out her tax return she deducts the donation of £200 from her taxable income thus reducing her tax bill by £84. It is Siobhan who benefits directly from the tax relief in this case.
EXAMPLE 3 Corporate Donor
XYZ Ltd. Makes a company donation of £200 to the NDNSP and receives a receipt. The company can claim a deduction for the donation as if it were a trading expense. The company pays corporation tax at 20% so their corporation tax bill is reduced by £200 x 20% = £40. The company gets the benefit of the tax relief in this case.
Other points to remember
To qualify for the tax relief a donation must satisfy a number of conditions:· It must be in the form of money
· It must not be repayable.· It must not confer any benefit on the donor or any person connected with the donor.
· It must not be conditional on, or associated with, any arrangement involving the acquisition of property by the charity or approved body.
What is an "Eligible Charity" ?
The tax relief detailed above is only available for donations to Eligible Charities or Approved Bodies. What does this mean?An Eligible Charity is defined by the legislation as any charity within the State, which is authorised in writing by the Revenue Commissioners for the purpose of this Scheme.
As a body with eligible charity status, the NDNSP fulfils the following: qualifying conditions:
· NDSNP has been issued with a Charitable Tax Exemption Number as follows:
CHY 7732· NDNSP has been in operation for at least three years since being granted the CHY Number - In fact the CHY number was granted in October 1984.
· NDNSP has been successful in its a formal application to Revenue for authorisation as an "Eligible Charity" for the purposes of Section 45, Finance Act, 2001 (donations to eligible charities).
Reference Number CHY 7732 / 0464.
Authorisation issued on 26 September 2000. Renewed on 14 June 2001.· NDNSP meets, and is committed to continue meeting any other conditions that Revenue may require from time to time.
NDNSP is among the educational and other named organisations, details of which, as 'Approved Bodies', are available on the Revenue website:
http://www.revenue.ie/Office of the Revenue Commissioners,
Charities Section,
Government Offices,
Nenagh,
Co. TippeararyTel. 067-44310 Fax 067-32916
The Revenue website posts up-to-date listings of charities who have a CHY number and separate listings of both Approved Bodies and Charities that have been granted Eligible Charity status.
Annexe: Electronic filing of forms
It is the intention of the Revenue Commissioners to require submission of "appropriate certificates" for individual donations in an agreed electronic format where charities and approved bodies have the facilities for this. In cases where the necessary facilities are not available the forms may be given in writing in an approved format.All repayment claims should be sent to:
The Inspector of Taxes,
Claims Section,
9/15 Upper O'Connell Street
Dublin 1Tel: 01-8746821 Fax: 01-8746862
email: DIRD@revenue.ie
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