Irish forestry is becoming more and more a part of the Irish landscape. As it stands, about 10% of the total Irish land is under forestry and the Irish government hopes to increase the amount over the next two decades. The forests of any country are going to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and increase the amount of oxygen so they are very beneficial to the environment. Also, forestry can act as a renewable fuel. The Irish government and many Irish businessmen are interested in establishing forestry plantations in order to extract the timber for biomass woodchips.
Before any trees arrive at a forestry site they are normally grown for two or three years at a tree nursery. This is because they have been allowed to grow up to that age under nursery conditions. This gives an advantage to the young tree meaning that when they are transferred eventually to the forestry site they will be much taller than the competing vegetation. Most of the competing vegetation will have been cleared by a mechanical digger before the trees arrive and the young trees will also be planted into mounds of earth, thereby giving them an extra advantage.
Once the initial maintenance period has been carried out, usually over the first year or two, the forest will generally be left alone. It is only when the trees reach an age of 14 to 20 years that forest thinning may be required. If the trees have grown to their full capacity within this timeframe, they will have enclosed each other and in order to ensure the best quality timber, about a third of the trees must be removed at this stage. This allows the better quality tries to have a better share of the available nutrients, sunshine, water etc. It also means that when the trees come to their final years as in commercial forestry, the timber that is going to be extracted by clear fell will be the best timber that can be produced.
