What happened to the Irish forests?

Roger Buck

I'm here with what may be a very stupid question to some and unsure which forum to place it in.

Basically, I'm a clueless American living in Ireland for some years - and I want to understand how Ireland became so bare, treeless compared to the new world.

Was this the English cutting them down or is that far too simplistic?

All that peat must have come from somewhere - were there once great forests?

Also what were the trees of the original forests? I guess they were mainly deciduous - but I'm particularly curious about _the Scots Pine_ - which I believe was native here.

Were there once forests of scots pines or other conifers?

If anyone can tell me anything or give me a good link I'd be grateful. Not getting far with Google.

Many thanks!

The_Captain

There's no great secret to it, a combination of blanket bog growth and long-term human deforestation.

Population growth and a much smaller landmass than the Americas meant that tree-cutting was a necessity for farming and growth