Western Forestry Co-op & Irish Timber Growers Association
Field day to Brabazon Woodland, Swinford, Co. Mayo
Date: Friday 1st October 2021
Meeting Time: 10.15 am
Meeting Point: Community Centre, Park Road, Swinford, Co. Mayo, F12 HH50
Directions: Parking is available at Swinford community Centre which is located beside Swinford Golf Club and Swinford GAA Club on Park Road in the town.
Participants are advised to bring suitable clothing & footwear and a packed lunch
Itinerary
Morning Session
In the morning we will be visiting a live clearfell forest site which is owned by Brabazon Park Trustees, the commercial conifer area was planted in the 1990’s with Sitka Spruce and is part of an old native woodland site (150+ years) and younger broadleaf site which is now used regularly as an amenity area by the people of Swinford and surrounds. We will look at and discuss the performance of the crop over the rotation, outlining crop measurements, sales methods for the timber and harvesting methods and look at the options and possibilities regarding brash removal and the financial benefits or deficits it creates.
The plan for the clearfelled area is to be converted to Native Woodland through the Native Woodland Conservation Scheme. There are also plans in place for the woodland to avail of the NeighbourWood Scheme to help finance further development of the area as an amenity facility for the future. We will also discuss recent forest road construction and specifications and the new site entrance.
Lunch –Participants are advised to take along a picnic lunch which we can have on site.
Afternoon Session
For the afternoon session we will visit an Ash plot on the same site to look at the consequences of Ash Die Back, discuss the Ash Reconstitution Scheme available from the Dept. of Agriculture Food and the Marine and discuss the different options available in this scheme. We will also explain the different site clearance, replanting options and the economics of carrying out this work. We will also look at the possible end products that are salvageable from these trees.
Weather permitting and tree felling licence permitting, there will be harvesting machinery working on the site for the field day.
Western Forestry co-op would like to sincerely thank the Brabazon Park Trust for hosting the field day in their woodlands and the ITGA for jointly holding the field day
