Minister Michael Creed and the Department of Agriculture propose the planting of 22 million trees per year for two decades to offset carbon emissions.  Great news! Except more than 15 million of these trees per annum will be non native short lived and poisoning sitka spruce.  Many of the remaining broadleaf trees will be covering the edge of the spruce plantations and will be felled within 30 years when the spruce are harvested.

Sitka spruce plantations are dead zones.  No birds or wildlife live within them. No flora grow beneath them.  They do not support life.  They poison water courses.  The chemicals used in their planting cancels any imagined benefit. Even the wood produced when these forests are harvested is poor quality.

Please do not plant 300 million Sitka spruce.  This is cynical greenwashing.  These plantations will do much more harm than good to our environment.  We must plant native species and we must do so fast.