Mixed messages from State on forestry development

Forestry, like farming and other land uses, has to engage in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. The recent EU public consultation on the future of CAP received 322,000 submissions from a wide range of stakeholders.

The overall view was “that agricultural policy should continue to be managed at the EU level, and that helping farmers and protecting the environment should be its two main goals”.

The survey didn’t differentiate between the views of farmers and forest owners, probably because, in a European context, farming and forestry are usually taken as complementary land uses as a high percentage of farmers own forests.

The EU28 has close to 182m ha of forests and other wooded land. This amounts to 43 % of its land area. Wooded land covers a slightly greater proportion of land used for agriculture (41%), which is huge, even allowing for the fact that 40% of forests are in public ownership.

Most of the EU production comes from private forest. In countries such as Sweden, Finland and Austria, which have in excess of 40% forest cover and major forest-based industries, forest owners and wood processors are closely aligned to ensure that forestry optimises its value. Also, the forest industry maintains continuous dialogue with government departments in agriculture, environment, trade, housing and planning.

In these countries, government departments and agencies encourage multi-storey buildings in engineered wood.

This proactive approach ensures that the value-added potential of timber is optimised, while increased use of wood achieves a low-carbon economy. The latest proposal in Austria is to build over 80 metres in cross-laminated timber (CLT).

Contrast this with Ireland, where the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government oversees building regulations that limit the maximum height of a building in wood to three storeys.

In Europe, forest owners also benefit from proactive industry wood promotion, as European governments strongly support sustainable forest management.

The forest is viewed not only as the supplier of raw material for construction, furniture, energy and other uses, but also as a land use with non-wood benefits in relation to climate change mitigation, recreation and water quality.

These benefits are promoted by Teagasc, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the EPA to contact Teagasc or the Forest Service before featuring a damaging poster with the message ‘surface water run-off from forestry poses a risk to our water environment’ in its Catchments Newsletter.

Minister Doyle has already expressed his disappointment with the poster, while Gerry Murphy, president of the Society of Irish Foresters has challenged it.

“Forestry throughout Europe is viewed as the preferred land use to prevent erosion and flooding as well as improving water quality, yet in parts of Ireland we still carry an antiquated view on this great renewable resource,” he said.

“Most forests never receive artificial fertiliser, a small number receive a single application, and tiny minority receive two applications over the course of a 35-60 year and more rotation.

“Surely, this makes forestry one of the more environmentally friendly land uses currently available.

“Foresters now ensure silt traps are in place and all new planting sites have buffer zones of broadleaves and setback areas to ensure water catchments are fully protected.”

He acknowledged that forestry activities, particularly during planting and harvesting, can generate sediment, but practices are in place to minimise this.

“For example, harvesting operations are shut down during prolonged wet weather and there are mandatory guidelines in relation to forestry and water quality.”

He said that a simple change in the wording to ‘well managed forests provide benefits to water quality as well as reducing flooding and soil erosion’ would redress the balance.

He has acknowledged that the EPA has agreed to amend the wording. The State agency has suggested the text: “Properly sited and managed woodlands and forests can protect our waters.”

He welcomes this, but is disappointed that the poster is still in circulation.

Forestry in a poster landscape

Despite the digital revolution, posters are still a powerful medium to get a message across. It’s worth comparing the contrasting messages presented on forestry by the EPA endorsed poster Water Catchments with the US-based Nature Conservancy (NC) Healthy Lands, Healthy Water poster, sent in by Dermot Houlihan, Timberland Forestry. While the Irish poster portrays forestry as negative, the NC poster concentrates on the many obvious benefits of forestry in relation to water quality, erosion control, carbon storage, habitat restoration and income generation. The NC poster is available online at www.farmersjournal.ie/forestry.