Investigations are underway into an incident on a Coillte plantation near Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, on Sunday, involving the alleged uprooting of hundreds of Sitka spruce saplings by locals and environmental campaigners.

It is understood that some members of the Save Leitrim group were involved in the action, with the group opposing the planting of “industrial conifer plantations” by Coillte and investors, citing both environmental and rural community concerns.

Farmer and Save Leitrim campaigner Eddie Mitchell claimed that many in Leitrim are concerned that Coillte will continue to partner with investment funds to buy out farmland and put it under blanket Sitka spruce, with little economic or environmental value to rural communities.

“We won’t be put off our land by these people and this planting will only happen if we allow it. It’s Sitka spruce into deep peat that we are talking about here,” Mitchell commented to the Irish Farmers Journal.

“The environmental movement went out to pull Sitka spruce and it was a serious thing to do, but it is a land grab that we won’t accept.

“The trees must be owned by people who live among them in the community. Coillte ended their social licence with the people of Leitrim after the Gresham House deal,” Mitchell said.

Coillte

Coillte has stated that it is “aware of alleged illegal activity that took place at one of its forests in Co Leitrim” and that “the matter is currently being investigated”.

The agency did not respond to Irish Farmers Journal queries on its policies for consulting communities nor on its afforestation policy for peatlands.

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Protestors uproot Sitka spruce saplings on Coillte site

It is understood that the group was comprised of both environmentalists and locals, some of whom were farmers.