Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 48
1 through the progression of the growth of an area that was
2 not forested, you have a change in the ecological balance
3 in that land, and that there is a stage when the forest is
4 first planted when the wildlife have not fully inhabited
5 that forested area. There then comes a stage when they do
6 while the trees are young and growing. There then comes a
7 stage when they move away because of the fact that the
8 canopy closes. Finally, when the forest is thinned, a
9 further ecological balance is restored.
10
11 But I would like the privilege, if you would allow me so,
12 to read from Charles Darwin because there is a very
13 relevant passage written in the middle of the 19th century
14 that I have been itching to actually read out.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I saw you had the book yesterday and
17 this morning it was open and now we are actually going to
18 hear from it.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: Yes, I have no objection as long as it is not pages
21 and pages.
22 A. It is not very long. Charles Darwin, writing in the
23 middle of the last century, as you appreciate, in
24 establishing the origin of the species by means of natural
25 selection by constant modification which, you can imagine,
26 leads him to talk about extinction at a certain stage,
27 refers here to a case in Staffordshire:
28
29 "On the estate of a relation where I had ample means of
30 investigation, there was a large and extremely barren heath
31 which had never been touched by the hand of man, but
32 several hundred acres of exactly the same nature had been
33 enclosed 25 years previously and had been planted with
34 scotch fern. The change in the native vegetation of the
35 planted part of the heath was most remarkable, more than is
36 generally seen in passing from one quite different soil to
37 another. Not only the proportional numbers of the heath
38 plants were wholly changed, but 12 species of plants, not
39 counting grasses and caroseeds, flourished in the
40 plantations which could not be found in the heath. The
41 effect on the insects must have been still greater, for six
42 insectivorous birds were very common in the plantations
43 which were not to be seen on the heath, and the heath was
44 frequented by two or three distinct insectivorous birds.
45 Here we see how potent has been the effect of the
46 introduction of a single tree, nothing whatever else having
47 been done with the exception that the land had been
48 enclosed so that cattle could not enter".
49
50 My Lord, I only read that to show that, yes, forestry does
51 have an effect upon any ecological balance, but it cannot
52 be said that it is always detrimental to the breadth, width
53 and purpose of wildlife.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: I do not think we will be calling Mr. Darwin as an
56 expert witness in this case though. It does point out also
57 that the damage that cattle are doing?
58 A. Very much, Mr. Morris, very much.
59
60 Q. Also they indicate, I presume, that the insecticides,
