Sustainable forest certs now essential
"In time, each timber product will be traceable back to the forest in which it was grown, a concept now familiar in beef production," he says.
'The timber market in the UK, our biggest market, now demands SFM certification. Without it, this market is firmly closed."
Landowners may have thought they were escaping from the bureaucracy of livestock farming by planting forests. But they reckoned without SFM Certification, which requires that plantations are managed in a way that is sympathetic to both the ecosystem and the surrounding environment, without adversely effecting economic returns.
In practical terms, this requires each plantation to have a long-term management plan detailing all future management operations, and a comprehensive ecological assessment outlining harvesting, restocking and landscape design plans.
However, there is better news from SWS on another issue of concern to the forest industry finding a market for thinnings.
Mr Carroll says: "In partnership with Grainger Sawmills, we have developed Ireland's first biomass CHP plant."
Mr Carroll said that the plant would utilise up to 50,000 tonnes annually of forest and sawmill by-products.
