Sustainable Forest Management Programmes and Schemes in Ireland

Coillte Sustainability Programmes

Coillte, the commercial semi state custodian of Ireland's forests, has recently announced (June 2019) the establishment of Coillte Nature, an initiative that seeks to advance the company's sustainability agenda.  

Coillte Nature is a new non for profit entity that will focus on environmental and recreation aspects of forestry and aim to deliver on the Government's National Forestry Programme targets that have a strong focus on carbon sequestration, biodiversity and the creation of new woodlands to facilitate species diversity. Some of Coilltes commercial forests will be converted to recreational forests throughout this process to promote recreation and tourism in the sector. Most of the forests targeted for conversion will be located in the Dublin mountains where management practices will include tree felling and replanting with native trees, the incorporation of continuous cover forestry (CCF) practices and the long term retention of other tree species. This conversion will involve joint partnership for funding between three of Dublin local authorities and Coillte. Grants for native woodland conversion are granted by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.  

Bord na Móna will also collaborate with Coillte Nature to transform land formerly used for peat production into native woodland. These efforts will also align with the Forest service’s code of best practice objective to expand national forest cover as well as support the Government's most recent plans on climate action (Coillte, 2019). 

The Woodland Improvement Scheme

The Woodland Improvement Scheme provides forest owners with financial support to promote sustainable forestry management practices through a continuous cover forestry (CCF) approach. This will promote actions to restructure existing forests that will encourage the protection and enhancement of water quality, habitats and species etc. The schemes principle aim is to increase the forest cover area of CCF systems by following the CCF practises listed in the following objectives:

1. To enhance environmental benefits of existing coniferous forests by opening up the canopy and creating new habitats for wildlife; 

2.  To create an uneven canopy structure with the aim of producing high quality, high value logs.  To promote a more suitable management option in sensitive sites;  

3. To develop skills in continuous cover forestry across the forestry sector to facilitate wider adoption. 

 The scheme will run throughout the duration of the Forestry programme set between 2014 - 2020. For further information on the WIS scheme please click here.