Walsh to receive forestry report
The minister was in Avondale House, Co Wicklow, yesterday to aunch the annual RDS Irish Forestry Awards, which this year celebrate 100 years of Irish forestry.
The awards include a Centenary Lifetime Achievement honour, to be presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the development of the forestry industry in Ireland through their lifetime, work, policy formulation, or entrepreneurial activity. Two other awards will be made, one for farm forestry and one for bio- diverse forests-woodlands.
The prize money for each category has been increased to 2,000.
The 2004 Awards will be presented at a special ceremony in Farmleigh House on December 9.
They are intended to promote standards of excellence in the production of native forests and timber, and they continue the historic involvement by the RDS in the development of Irish forestry since it first awarded planting grants in 1740.
Launching the awards in Avondale, Mr Walsh said when the house and estate were purchased in 1904 to act as the headquarters of the nascent Forest Service, only 1% of Ireland was under forest.
This figure has increased tenfold since, despite the growth of intensive agriculture during the period. However, he added that there was a real opportunity for expansion.
Mr Walsh also encouraged farmers to look at forestry’s role in the future of their farms.
