Currently, some 24% of Dasos managed properties in Ireland are managed in the regime of Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) targeting primarily biodiversity benefits. Dasos is now launching an additional process of identifying forests in our Irish portfolio with high biodiversity, environmental and climate change potential to be managed based on CCF silvicultural regime, i.e. maintaining tree cover at all stages of a forest rotation.
Being one of the largest forest owners in Europe with the most internationally diversified forest assets, Dasos pays special care to apply the best silvicultural regime suited for each specific site. Consideration is particularly given to species, biological and physical site properties, as well as social and economic issues.
Over the years, substantial experience has accumulated within Dasos regarding CCF as applied in various environments and in wide geography. Some key findings and laws seem to be generally valid and transferable whilst specific forestry issues in Ireland have to be paid attention to.
It should be noted that the regime of CCF represents in fact a remarkable range of potential silviculture measures depending upon the situation, not least in the dimensions of commercial forestry vs. conservation. For example, some 18,000 hectares of forests across Europe are managed by Dasos to target mainly conservational and biodiversity means. Substantial CCF areas are also managed to serve predominantly social as well as economic aims.
In Ireland, Dasos is choosing management regimes to optimise both environmental benefits and commercial return, adapting silvicultural practice to local needs and conditions. Dasos believes that a simplistic approach will yield sub-optimal results. To gain overall and holistic perspective, Dasos is making use of a broad range of proven silvicultural practices, including (but not exclusively) CCF which sits at one end of a continuum of silvicultural options, and ranging to even-aged forestry.
Based on its research work and forest management experience across Europe, Dasos has gained a deep understanding of how to adapt silvicultural practice to deliver enhanced environmental and carbon benefits while at the same time preserving and enhancing commercial value. Dasos continues to refine and develop best practice silviculture for these sensitive areas through an extensive network of research plots and programmes.
As a wider context, since the beginnings of silvicultural science in the 16th and 17th centuries, foresters have been tailoring forest management regimes to deliver a varying mix of sustainable benefits to society e.g. amenity, hunting, firewood, commercial lumber, etc. Lately, carbon and biodiversity have become increasingly critical components of this mix. Dasos’ team of internationally trained foresters are pushing the boundaries in developing innovative silvicultural regimes to ensure Irish forests deliver on climate change and biodiversity.
For further information please contact:
Petteri Seppänen
petteri.seppanen@dasos.fi
Tel:. +358 40 728 2819
