18% target for forest cover by 2050 - how to get there?

You could just picture the Sitka dead zones

Of course it could be done better.

It won't be though. It'll be plantations of sitka for export

Really - i think there is much talk about issues with forced monoculture PRG swards regarding heavy Chem N inputs, worm burdens in stock etc.

In the worst example of fake news I have seen in the Irish media, the Irish Times has withdrawn an article it published with the headline : “Coillte commits to planting native tree species only from 2025 on”.

That would have been extraordinary news in the forestry sector except that Coillte has made no commitment bearing any resemblance to this headline. In fact, Coillte’s policy is that it hopes to “enable the creation of 100,000 hectares of new forests by 2050, half of which will be native woodlands”.

So the facts are:

no “commitment”, only an aspiration.

Not next year but in a quarter of a century.

Not all, just half.

This fake news is not a typo or a technical error or a misunderstanding. It seems to be a story invented out of thin air by the Irish Times. Or did someone deliberately mislead the Irish Time? If so, did the Times not fact check?

The Irish Times offers its readers no apology for misleading them so badly and no explanation for how this fiasco happened. If I read it on Facebook. I’d think “serve me right for clicking that link!

Of course fake news travels fast and this fake news is already on social media.

Coillte and native tree species: Correctionhttps://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/03/18/coillte-and-native-tree-species-correction/

Here's the original story. A hoax Press Release was sent to the IT, claiming to be from Coillte.

What a shambles for the IT to run this gob-smacking story without picking up the phone to Coillte!

Still no apology or explanation.

Surely this is worse than publishing nonsense about "cultural appropriation" and fake tanning.

Thats like saying the ESB are doing a great job making huge profits via gouging their customers as widely reported in the media recently. Most forestry operations these days are highly automated so Coillte is providing no great employment for the ongoing damage they do to rural communities or the environment which has an ongoing large negative economic impact of its own. Given the p*ss poor quality of much of their plantations alot of there "turnover" consists of low grade pulp. In contrast Ireland has to import nearly all its hardwood and timber construction needs, much of it coming from illegal rainforest destruction in the likes of Myanmar, DRC etc. thanx to the failure of Coillte and the state forestry service to make any efforts to develop the sector over the course of now 80 plus years. In contrast the likes of France have community hardwood forests that are selectively harvested on a tree by tree basis without destructive clearcutting methods so beloved here. In turn this brings in serious income for whole communties with French Oak currently making eyewatering money on the likes of the Chinese market.

Perhaps my we are insane here in Tang,

"No sane private landowner is going to commit their land, no matter how poor to middling it is for agricultural purposes, to mixed broadleaf woodland which has no prospect whatsoever of generating any sort of meaningful income in a timescale that's measured in human generations."

We have 33Ha planted with a very diverse mix of broadleaves and some conifers (scots. larch, norway).

Our forest is a popular destination for Knowledge Transfer Groups.

Having started planting in 1996, we now generate income from our forest. How you might ask? We add value to all of our produce before sale. The firewood we sell is cut and split our customers mostly season the wood themselves (they simply keep a suitable stock so that the timber is dry by the time it is burnt). We make charcoal for smelters and smiths from the tops of the trees material below 75mm dia that is unsuitable for firewood. We have a small sawmill and produce larch fenceposts and trailer floors. We also saw some of our hardwoods at small diameters and can sell this produce, recently I sold a load of 6mm Ash veneer to a man who used it to finish the interior of a camper van. We provide pioneering poles and amenity to scout groups. We provide sawmilling services to folk who want to have some timber cut up (one of my customers runs a "Glamping" operation and regularly turns up with logs to be sawn). We do all of the forest operations ourselves and so earn "wages" getting the grant money for various forest operations Thinning and tending etc.

It is not all a bed of roses of course, we have faced significant difficulties over this time, but we overcome. Ash dieback is a bit of a disaster for us, and we have just applied for the reconstitution grant, we will do all of the felling and timber removal ourselves and have our forestry company (SWS forestry) look after replanting. The reconstitution grant works out at about €1/tree felled, and we will be able to sell the timber for firewood and some of the larger stuff as planks. I have learned that proffessional tree planters are worth the investment as they are much faster and get better survival rates than we can achieve ourselves, we learned this through experience having tried planting ourselves in the past.

To get over the problem of the loss of 27 years of growing time we will plant some 12 year old whips of high value trees when we replant to recover some of the lost increment, perhaps 50 stems/Ha.

Am I insane??

Tim

Thank you for your clarification, you are of course correct.

I would point out however that in France and other places where continuous cover forestry is practiced, incomes of €500/Ha/Yr are typical from the sale (Standing) of quality hardwood. This would of course require an industrial base to consume that quality hardwood which is sadly lacking on our green little island.

Tim

The forest coverage in Ireland is shocking and while hedgerows help a bit, it is no way comparable to a forest. Not all species living in woods can live in hedgerows only.

The target is too ambitious but my main problem is what is their plan to achieve it?

In my view, you need the 2 main components below to succeed:

• Change mentality. The country is in this situation for decades and people grew up in this environment so they don’t see it as a problem. You still hear too often that planting trees in good land is a waste and trees should only be planted in marginal land.You need to change the mentality by teaching it at schools, doing campaign, etc. It takes time.
• There needs to be some short term benefits for farmers. You can’t simply say “plant good lands”. They need to be able to get some income from it to mitigate the original loss. It starts with making felling a lot easier and faster. We all know increasing forest coverage is a good thing but everyone needs to contribute. Not only farmers, but also the State and the taxpayers. It can be subsidies covering majority of he loss for the farmers.