A group of eleven Irish foresters, woodland owners, academics and advisors came to the Welsh borders this autumn in a trip they named the ‘Hardwoods Focus Tour to Wales’.
A group of eleven Irish foresters, woodland owners, academics and advisors came to the Welsh borders this autumn in a trip they named the ‘Hardwoods Focus Tour to Wales’.
The study tour programme began with two days that looked at examples of Welsh hardwood production, which included a visit to end-grain tiles producers, as well as a meeting with Coed Cymru representatives.
The last three days were spent at Whitney Sawmills, where Woodland Heritage welcomed the party to what became the 23rd running of its ever-popular Woodland to Workshop course.
“As well as attending the most informative and thought-provoking Woodland to Workshop course, we always envisaged that the Hardwoods Focus Tour would serve as an opportunity for intensive discussion amongst the diverse members in the HF Group”, said Teagasc Forestry Development Officer and group facilitator, Jonathan Spazzi. “With a rapidly expanding forestry industry in Ireland and with growing interest in topics like Continuous Cover Forestry and adding value to intermediate hardwoods thinnings, we saw the tour as a catalyst for future initiatives, as well as an opportunity to make connections with strategic new stakeholders in Wales for future collaborations, in the private, charity and public sectors”.
For Woodland Heritage this was the first time that Woodland to Workshop had been run for a single group, but it worked well for both attendees and tutors.
“One of the aims of Woodland to Workshop courses has always been to bring together people from all parts of the timber supply chain to help users appreciate the effort that foresters make to provide the timber they need, whilst helping the growers understand what the users want”, said Guy Corbett-Marshall of Woodland Heritage. “But whilst this course went against the norm to-date, tutor feedback was particularly complementary about the quality of the forestry debates and we really hope that the links made this autumn will endure across the Irish Sea for years ahead”.
A week prior to the Irish visit, the 22nd Woodland to Workshop course had been run for another eleven students with Kit Vaughan of Prime Coppice the recipient of the Wood-Mizer (UK) bursary. The attendees came from a range of backgrounds including university lecturers, woodland managers and forestry advisors.
More details of the course can be found here; to discuss a separate running of Woodland to Workshop for your own group, please contact us here.