A 5-year vision for our native woodlands in Ireland developed by Woodlands of Ireland in partnership with native woodland stakeholders. Woodlands of Ireland urges all stakeholders to promote the targets outlined in this Strategy for the benefit of our native woodland and society.
To read the strategy in full and download a copy in PDF format, click on the following hyperlink or the cover of the document – A Strategy for Native Woodlands in Ireland 2016-2020 by Woodlands of Ireland.
Abstract:
“Woodlands of Ireland, a partnership-based environmental charity dedicated to native woodlands, has developed a 5-year native woodland strategy with input from key government bodies and native woodland stakeholders. The key elements of this Strategy for Native Woodlands in Ireland 2016-2020 are as follows:
- The promotion of the ecosystem service values of native woodlands and their potential to deliver these services, amongst policy-makers, the forest industry and the general public.
- To promote the utilisation of available and potential financial resources to conserve existing high value native woodlands (ancient woodland, old or long-established woodland, riparian woodland, and specific types of young emergent (or ‘scrub’) woodland), and to expand the resource through the establishment of new native woodlands.
- To promote the strategic creation of protective native woodlands on sites adjoining watercourses, in order to maintain and improve water quality and to contribute towards the mitigation of increased flooding predicted as a result of climate change.
- To promote the management of native woodland using continuous cover forestry techniques, to realise high quality, indigenous hardwoods and softwoods, especially birch, alder, oak and Scots pine.
- To advocate the incorporation of non-timber uses, including biodiversity, habitat linkage, the protection of water quality, flood control, carbon storage, recreation, health benefits, eco-tourism and the visual landscape, into native woodland planning and management.
- To ensure that climate change and invasive species (in particular, non-native deer, grey squirrel and rhododendron) are taken into account in native woodland policy, legislation, planning and management.
- To support adaptive measures and research to counteract tree pests and diseases that threaten native woodlands, such as the ash dieback disease and Phytophthora ramorum.
- To lobby for native woodland research that will underpin the future sustainability of the resource, and to highlight relevant research by hosting a National Native Woodland Conference.
- To integrate native woodland wood and non-wood values into the relatively new Natural Capital policy agenda.”
The achievement of these measures would be supported through government grants and private funding initiatives. The primary funding mechanism was the Forest Service Native Woodland Scheme package under the previous Forestry Programme 2014-2020.
Download the full Strategy in the following link: A strategy for native woodlands in Ireland: 2016 – 2020