‘WINDBLOWN TREES’ PUTS PRESSURE ON FOREST OWNERS

Windblown trees from Storm Éowyn and the earlier Storm Darragh is putting immense pressure on forestry and haulage contractors as well as landowners

Lesser-known impacts, out with windblown trees, of recent Storm Éowyn and the earlier Storm Darragh – both of which caused extensive damage to homes. buildings, infrastructure, and power supplies – is the additional damage they caused to State and privately-owned forests along the Western seaboard.

80,000 Hours

That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
Kieran Anders Forestry

Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
Promoting safety in the workplace

It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
Glasfryn Fencing and Sawmill

Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
Keeping Timber Hauliers Safe

Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.

FIND US ON

Evident in the ‘larger-than-normal’ volume of felled and uprooted trees – whose value and usefulness as timber dwindles as they await harvesting and transport to sawmills – mature trees lost to ‘windblow’ rapidly lose condition and usefulness for conversion into timber unless harvested and processed as soon as possible after felling.

Current estimates by industry experts put the volume of lost tree stock at 11 million cubic metres and possibly higher, a figure threatened by deterioration if not recovered and processed.

In this regard, an additional difficulty stems from the extent to which forestry contractors and timber hauliers have been overwhelmed by the urgency and demand for their services.

Current estimates by industry experts put the volume of lost tree stock at 11 million cubic metres and possibly higher, a figure threatened by deterioration if not recovered and processed.

In this regard, an additional difficulty stems from the extent to which forestry contractors and timber hauliers have been overwhelmed by the urgency and demand for their services.

To this end, Darragh O’Driscoll, the company’s Business Development Director, said: “the further development and promotion of careers in the industry will become increasingly more urgent as Government looks to the expansion of our forests and an increase in State and private planting as a key element in offsetting harmful CO2 emissions and advancing Ireland’s commitment to Net Zero.