Forest Planning
Forestry, once established, generally becomes a permanent feature of the landscape and being a long term enterprise it is subject to a wide range of influences. Planning is therefore one of the most important tasks a forester must undertake in […]
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Silvicultural Systems
Silviculture has been defined as “the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, and quality of forest vegetation for the full range of forest resource objectives.” Successful silviculture depends on clearly defined management objectives. However, silviculture is often confused […]
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Establishing Forests
Following centuries of deforestation Ireland is in the process of re-establishing forest cover. From a low of 1.5% at the turn of the 20th century, successive governments have invested in the annual establishment of new forests; and today forest cover now amounts […]
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Inventory
Accurate and up-to-date information on forest resources is required for the sustainable management of forests. Today, multi-resource forest inventories are carried out periodically to gather information on the many different attributes of Ireland’s forests. Data gathered provides essential information to […]
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Harvesting
Harvesting is a general term used to describe the felling of trees and preparing them for transport to the mills. It includes both thinning and clearfelling operations. Thinning is the periodic removal of the weaker and smaller trees from a […]
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Threats to Forests
During the lifetime of forest stands they are subject to many different factors that can potentially threaten their very existence. Abiotic factors such as windthrow and fires can devastate forests while biotic factors such as insect pests, diseases and animal […]
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Sustainability
SUSTAINED YIELD Forest management arose out of the need to control the exploitation of forests to provide a steady supply of timber to meet the needs of communities. In central Europe silvicultural systems were developed to regulate the felling and […]
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Grant Schemes
Background to afforestation Destruction of Ireland‘s native forests over many centuries left the country with approximately only 1.5% of the land area under forests by the turn of the 20th century. Consequently afforestation (planting of new forests) has been a […]
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Forest Economics
Forest economics provides essential information that helps forest policy decision making at both the sectoral level and at the forest level. Traditionally, forest economics was concerned exclusively with the process of timber production. Today, however, its scope has expanded to […]
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