Pro Silva Ireland Sat April 27, 2013 Open Forest Day: AFI site at a Coillte property in Rahin, Co. Kildare

March 28, 2013

Forester Paddy Purser, ProSilva Ireland looks on as French silviculturist Marc Etienne discusses options for the Legge's High Yield Class sitka spruce plantation.

ProSilva Ireland is excited to announce its April open forest day. It takes place on an AFI* site at a Coillte property in Rahin, Co. Kildare on Sat April 27 2013

Venue: Rahin Wood is located off the R401 between Edenderry & Kinnegad (@ 53.391416,-7.07262). Part of the wood backs onto the River Boyne which forms the border with Co. Meath and is also very close to Co. Offaly.

The site includes an Oak/Beech mixed woodland planted in 1935 and a Norway Spruce woodland planted in 1991 with some natural regeneration of Ash throughout.

Day begins: 11 am  – 4.30 pm

Please bring your own packed lunch, wet weather clothing and boots.

A €20 donation is appreciated to cover the cost of the visiting Pro Silva Europe foresters.

* The AFI (Association Futaie Irrégulière) is an association registered by French law, setup in 1991 by a group of private forestry consultants in order to promote the management of irregular stands. It aims to share technical information and is founded on the principles advanced by ProSilva of Close-to-Nature – continuous cover forestry management. Although these two associations share many common objectives they both operate within their own separate spheres.
Our forest leaders for the day:

Dr Sophie Bertin, guest forest expert for ProSIlva Ireland April Open Forest Day, founder of 'Ekolog' in France
Dr Sophie Bertin, guest forest expert for ProSIlva Ireland April Open Forest Day, founder of ‘Ekolog’ in France

One of our foreign experts on the day will be Sophie Bertin from France, the founder and managing director of Ekolog, a company which provides consulting, research and training to corporations and organisations on how their business practices are impacting and are dependent upon ecosystems, and how they can incorporate these concerns into a responsible investment strategy and sustainable ecosystem management practices.
website www.ekolog.fr/english/

a

___________________________________________

screen-shot-2012-08-08-at-00-10-00
Phil Morgan, President of ProSilva Europe and Great Britain

Phil Morgan, President of ProSilva Europe and past Chair of ProSilva Great Britain (www.ccfg.org), will be our other forest expert leading our Kildare Open forest day with Sophie Bertin. Phil is a regular visitor, consultant and advisor to the Irish forest sector and he translated the AFI recommended handbook below. He also wrote the 2006 ProSilva Ireland booklet What makes Close to Nature Forest Management an attractive choice for Irish farmers? which can be downloaded from this site ProSilva 2006 booklet

Phil Morgan has pursued a varied career in forestry that first took him to France where he worked in state and community woodlands before reading for a degree in forestry at Aberdeen University. He worked as a forest surveyor in the tropical rainforests of Brunei, then as a forest manager for Tilhill Forestry in the Scottish Borders that led him to become the Shotton Paper Company Area Forest Manager in Wales.
He now combines consultancy work and the management of woodlands in Wales through his own company Sustainable Forest Management and through a trading co-operative called SelectFor. He is a specialist in continuous cover forest management and close to nature forestry. He has a wide client base including the Forestry Commission in Wales, large plcs, estates, private forestry investors, farmers, community groups and individuals. He is based in Wales but his work has taken him to all parts of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, France and the USA. He is actively expanding the Association Futaie Irrégulière (AFI) network outside of France particularly in Ireland and in Britain.

As a founding member of the Continuous Cover Forestry Group he has represented the group and travelled to many countries across Europe. He attended the inauguration of ProSilva Ireland at Spanish Point in 2001 and has accompanied PSI on many occasions. He has also assisted in establishing ProSilva Norway in 2008.

He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) and a member of the Association of Consulting Foresters (ACF) of America. He is a past chairman of the Continuous Cover Forestry Group (CCFG) 2007 – 2012 and international vice-chairman of the Association Futaie Irrégulière (AFI).

__________________________________

Screen shot 2012-01-08 at 21.07.31Just a reminder: the AFI published a full-illustrated paperback hand-book packed with all aspects of irregular forest management last year, with information very applicable to Ireland. Highly recommended.

More info here

Share this post:

Related Posts:

2018 Pro Silva Ireland study trip to France in September: now fully booked! Pro Silva Ireland has been delighted with the growing interest in our annual study trips. This year's trip planned for September is now fully subscribed and 24 members will be participating in examining Close-to-Nature managed forests in Eastern France.
Rodney was one of the original founding members of Pro Silva, a signatory of the declaration of Robanov Kot (1989), the Pro Silva founding document. It is his championing of Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), a term he was instrumental in defining and promoting, that will stand perhaps as his greatest legacy. He was the first chairman of the Continuous Cover Forestry Group (CCFG) and was responsible for establishing a formal association with ProSilva.
The focus of the Pro Silva Ireland Autumn field day will be early management of 1st generation oak plantation. We will be joined on the day by the Head Cooper from Irish Distillers in Middleton Co. Cork. Ger is a 5th generation cooper who has spent his life working with oak and knows the quality requirements of oak for coopering better than anyone. In recent years, Irish Distillers have been working with Pro Silva Ireland members to sustainably source high quality oak for coopering.
Phil Morgan, President of ProSilva Europe and known to many ProSilva Ireland members recently wrote an article on "The Case for Continuous Cover Forestry". The Forestry & Timber News Journal has kindly allowed us to re-publish the article here.
Previous
Next