Teagasc and COFORD Successful Forest Energy Event

The importance of thinning farm forests to produce quality wood fuel was the main message to farmers attending a recent successful forestry event in Stranorlar, County Donegal. Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan TD, was among the visitors to the forest of John Jackson, IFA’s national forestry chairman. The event was organised by Teagasc, COFORD and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).

Farm forestry in Ireland took off in the late eighties and many of the farm forests planted then are now fast approaching first thinning. This event highlighted the need to build good quality forest roads to carry out successful thinning operations. Different systems of producing high quality wood fuel were outlined.

This event is part of a COFORD funded project on harvesting and wood fuel production in young forests; the main aim of which is to demonstrate thinning and machinery systems. The COFORD management team chose a number of sites throughout Ireland for this project with harvesting taking place during April, May and June of this year. Teagasc, in association with COFORD and WIT, is holding public demonstrations on each of these sites. The demonstrations focus on the thinning operation and on wood energy production including firewood, outlining all the stages involved in the preparation for thinning. Quality thinning is important for the long-term stability of the crop.

Removing a proportion of the trees in a crop provides more growing space for the remaining trees, allowing quality and size to increase. This encourages the development of a larger proportion of heavier and more commercial timber in the final crop. First thinning is carried out when the trees are comparatively young resulting in relatively small timber products. The wood energy market now provides exciting new options for pulpwood, especially in the northwest.

The next Forest Energy Event 2007 is planned for west Mayo on Tuesday, 12 June. These events will be followed in the autumn by demonstrations on different chipping options.