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Minister Hackett announces the results of the recent Call for Proposals for Woodland Support Projects for 2021/2022

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett today announced the results of an Open Call by her Department for funding for Woodland Support Projects.  The Call was aimed at promoting the multi-functional benefits of forestry from recreational, environmental, community and economic uses and will be funded by her Department over the next two years. Over 61 applications were received of which 39 individual projects have now been selected for funding.

The Minister said, “I am delighted to see such a broad range of inspiring projects  aimed at supporting woodlands and I am particularly pleased at both the spread of projects throughout country and at seven of those chosen highlighting the environmental benefits of woodland.  This was a category I specifically added to this year’s Call and it is gratifying to see that it was so well responded too. Overall, I believe the response demonstrates that there is a huge interest in communicating the benefits of our woodlands, in enhancing our knowledge of sustainable woodland management and in progressing the development and use of timber products”

The projects will develop the knowledge base of farmers, woodland owners and the wider sector about the benefits of forestry, they will advance timber development, they will support native woodlands and agroforestry,  and they will  engage the wider community with trees as a source of enjoyment, inspiration, and biodiversity.

Minister Hackett had originally allocated funding of €1 million to the Woodland Support Fund but on receipt of the proposals, she increased that figure considerably. Explaining the increase, she said “Given the response to this Open Call and in order to fund as many  projects as possible, I was more than pleased to increase the available budget to €1.4 million. I did not wish to see any worthy project left behind and really look forward to seeing them being rolled out and to what they can achieve.”

The projects selected will support woodlands through a variety of approaches. They include, for example, a series of forestry webinars; field workshops on Continuous Cover Forestry; promoting the use of home grown timber for construction; the sourcing and planting native trees in GAA club grounds nationwide; woodland open days; ecological restoration, and awareness raising through multi-media, targeted promotional/educational initiatives to develop the potential of agroforestry in Ireland and many others besides.

The Minister concluded “The publication of the EU forestry Strategy last week highlighted the diverse benefits which our woodlands can play and this open call aligns very much with that approach. I want to thank all those individuals and organisations for taking part and we look forward to working with the successful groups on the implementation of their projects over the next two years”.

Note for Editors:

The Call for Proposals for Woodland Support Projects covered four themes as follows:

  1. Support and highlight the environmental benefits of woodlands.
  2. Support and highlight the benefits of woodlands, focussing on farmers, and / or community engagement and /or general wellness.
  3. Support and highlight productive forestry and timber products, in the context of climate action and the bioeconomy.
  4. Support and highlight sustainable forest management among forest owners (targeted at organisations already active in this area with established programmes in operation).

 

Details of the successful proposals approved under Call are set out in the table below.

 

Name of Group

Name of Project

Location

Total Budget

Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA)

ACA Forester and Agri Consultant/Advisor Peer to Peer Communication Campaign

Nationwide

€53,467

An Dulra Co-op Ltd

Bees on Our Native Woodland

Roscommon

€1,500

Biodiversity Partners

Forest Connections

Kerry

€53,240

CELT (Centre for Environmental Living & Training)

The Benefits of Native Trees for Farms, Communities and Nature

Nationwide

€16,875

Coillte Nature (Division of Coillte)

‘Trees on the Move’ mobile woodland-awareness event space

Nationwide

€53,628

Commercial Forestry Services Ltd

Pilot project to facilitate group certification of private forests in Ireland

Nationwide

€15,570

Crann – Trees for Ireland

“Promoting the multifunctional benefits of forestry”

Nationwide

€58,125

Crann – Trees for Ireland

Easy Treesie – Crann, Trees for Ireland Community Woodland Project

Nationwide

€40,000

Environmental Education Unit -An Taisce

Investigate Woodlands

Nationwide

€64,875

Farm TV

Farm TV Production of Audio Visual Content for Forestry Promotion

Nationwide

€11,220

Farm TV

Farm TV Forestry Educational Campaign

Nationwide

€56,227

Forest Industries Ire

Project Home Grown Homes

Nationwide

€40,000

Forest Industries Ire

Project Woodspec

Nationwide

€83,800

FORESTRY.IE /ITGA with the support of the Irish Farmers Journal

Joint FORESTRY.IE - ITGA initiative with the support of the Irish Farmers Journal to provide Forestry Webinars for Farmers, Woodland Owners and the wider sector.

Nationwide

€19,440

GAA

GAA Green Club Native Tree Planting & Promotion

Nationwide

€50,000

Green Skibbereen CLG

Myross Wood Meitheal

Cork

€28,150

Hometree Charity Ltd.

Woodland Creation/Education Project

Clare

€67,800

Irish Agroforestry Forum (IAF)

Supporting Agroforestry on the Island of Ireland through Collaborative Promotional and Educational Approaches

Nationwide

€70,544

Irish Forest Owners

Forestry Solutions

Nationwide

€19,300

Irish Forest Owners

Afforestation Makes Sense

Nationwide

€36,000

Irish Timber Growers Association

4-part Proposal for ITGA Information Projects to Promote Sustainable Forest Management and Market and Non-Market Public Benefits of Forestry

Nationwide

€65,150

Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA) in association with the Irish Forestry Unit Trust (IForUT)

Joint ITGA - IForUT initiative to establish Demonstration/Exhibition Woodland Walks

Offaly

€11,460

KCLR 96FM

From Seed to Sawdust

Kilkenny/Carlow

€29,980

Magner Communications

Why Forests? Why Wood?

Nationwide

€9,800

Pocket Forests

Pocket Forests Community Forest Packs

Nationwide

€45,800

Pro Silva Ireland

Continuous Cover Forestry field workshops

Nationwide

€19,680

Pro Silva Ireland

Continuous Cover Forestry education/awareness videos

Nationwide

€27,060

Pro Silva Ireland

Public events to promote and educate on sustainable production forestry

Nationwide

€18,204

Ray Ó Foghlu

Multifunctional Farm Forests - Profiles

Nationwide

€49,322

RDS

Irish Forest and Woodland Awards 2021 and 2022

Nationwide

€52,000

Rotary Club of Wicklow

Seamus Heaney Walk - Woodland Seat design

Wicklow

€3,000

Society of Irish Foresters

National Forestry Conference 2021

Nationwide

€6,400

Sustainable Projects Ireland CLG

Cloughjordan Ecovillage Woodland Wildlife Pond

Tipperary

€3,060

The Acorn Project

The Acorn Project : Home and Habitat

Kilkenny

€30,196

The North East Forestry Group

Woodland to Workshop - Marketing  private forest owners timber locally

Meath/Louth/Cavan/Monaghan

€30,991

The Organic Centre

Coillearnach Education Centre

Leitrim

€16,175

Western Forestry Co-operative Society Limited

Woodland Festival – Come See the Wood from the Trees

Leitrim

€64,380

Western Forestry Co-operative Society Limited

Native Woodland Pk Open Days

Sligo

€15,950

Woodlands of Ireland

Woodlands of Ireland Project

Nationwide

€87,559

 

 

Total

€1.425m