South Central BAU Strategic Plan
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Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan South Central BAU (Business Area Unit) Strategic Plan 2011-2015 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan Foreword I have great pleasure in publishing Coillte’s South Central Business Area Unit (BAU) strategic plan. This BAU strategic plan sets out our intentions for Coillte’s forest and non-forest business in South Central area of Ireland as part of achieving its economic, social and environmental goals. Mick Power BAU Manager _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan Statement of Compliance with Principles of Sustainable Forestry Management Coillte acknowledges the need for sustainable and responsible forest management. Coillte has adopted sustainable forest management (SFM) as the guiding principle by which it manages its forest now and in the future. In practising sustainable forest management we will: develop our forests in a way that is both environmentally sensitive, socially beneficial and economically sustainable; choose to independently verify that SFM is being practiced in our forests through the forest certification process; undertaken to work, with our stakeholders, towards full compliance with Irish Forestry standards; comply with applicable legal requirements and the ¹Forest Stewardship Council’s® (FSC®) International Principles and Criteria as embodied in the FSC Irish Forestry Standard; achieve full compliance with the FSC standard; comply with applicable legal requirements and achieve full compliance with PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) Irish Forest Certification Standard abide by the Forest Service Code of Best Practice and related guidelines on archaeology, fisheries, landscape and biodiversity among others; strive for continuous improvement of forestry practices. Mick Power BAU Manager _______________________ 1 FSC licence code FSC- C005714 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan The South Central BAU Team The BAU team structure is outlined below: BAU Manager Mick Power BAU Administration/Cost Control Liz Griffith Forest Operations Managers John Moore Dermot Cantwell Kevin Power Harvesting Operations Managers Pat Kelleher Jim Lynch Tom Noonan Resource Operations Managers Brendan Lally Tom O’Donoghue Engineering Operations Managers Liam Honan Tony Durack Forest Technicians Forest Operations Michael Collins Tom Shore Ned Landers Forest Technicians Harvesting Operations Oliver Russell Pat Gahan Tony Dunne Forest Technician Resource Operations Bernard Walsh Office Location in the BAU Unit 27, Danville Business Park, Kilkenny _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan Coillte South Central BAU strategic plan Table of Contents 1. Coillte and the BAU Strategic Plans ........................................................... 6 2. South Central BAU ................................................................................ 18 3. The South Central BAU Strategic Plan ..................................................... 28 4. Sustainable forest management policies and proposals .............................. 39 Appendix I - Summary of Archaeological Sites in South Central BAU .................. 47 Appendix II - Habitats and Species in South Central BAU ................................. 50 Appendix III - FSC International Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Forest Management .............................................................................................. 65 Appendix IV – Monitoring ............................................................................. 66 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 5 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan 1. Coillte and the BAU Strategic Plans 1.1 Coillte Coillte is Ireland's leading natural resources company with operations in forestry, timber panel production, renewable energy and land management. The core purpose of the company is to enrich lives locally, nationally and globally through innovative and sustainable management of natural resources. History Coillte was established under the Forestry Act of 1988 as a private limited company registered under and subject to the Companies Acts 1963-86. All of the shares in the company are held by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on behalf of the Irish State. The Board of Directors is appointed by the Minister for Agriculture. Coillte commenced trading in 1989 when it acquired ownership of the Irish State’s forests. Coillte today The company is an export orientated, forestry and forest products business, with interests in renewable energy. The company has three operating divisions - Coillte Forest, Coillte Panel Products and Coillte Enterprise. In recent years the company has worked with its sawmill customers to strengthen the market position for Irish timber in the UK. The company is playing an increasing role in developing wind energy and biomass assets and is also playing a key role in the roll out of broadband through its telecommunication mast sites. The company has retained Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification for its forest management since 2001 through an intensive approach to meeting the appropriate standards, balancing the social, economic and environmental impacts of its activities. The company employs approx 1,000 people across Ireland and the UK and supports the employment of many more people in jobs that add value to our forest products. The Forest Service (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) is the forest authority in Ireland. The Forest Service is responsible for ensuring the development of forestry within Ireland in a manner and to a scale that maximises its contribution to national socio-economic well-being on a sustainable basis that is compatible with the protection of the environment. Outdoor Recreation As Ireland’s leading provider of outdoor recreation we have more than 150 recreation sites for you to enjoy. For more information on how to get out and enjoy the outdoors see www.coillteoutdoors.ie _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 6 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan Coilltes change in organisational structure Coillte would like to take this opportunity to advise our stakeholders that we have changed our organisational structure in the Forest Division. This will mean the following: Our operating structure of 13 Districts has changed since Oct 1st 2012 to eight Business Area Units (BAU). As part of this change we reconfigured our previous District Strategic Plans (DSPs) 2011-2015 to reflect these new business areas. However, there will be no changes to our current forest management plans or their boundaries within these areas. This reconfiguration will result in eight Business Area Unit strategic plans of which the South Central BAU is one. 1.2 Renewable Energy Coillte’s core purpose is to enrich lives locally, nationally and globally through the innovative and sustainable management of natural resources. Coillte’s lands possess some of the best wind regimes in Ireland and Coillte has a fundamental role to play in helping reduce Ireland’s carbon emissions and achieving the Irish Government’s renewable energy targets. The Coillte forest estate has the potential to make a significant contribution to Ireland’s renewable energy targets through wind energy generation and through biomass. In many regions in Ireland Coillte is developing wind energy projects both on its own and in conjunction with co-development partners. In terms of developing our renewable energy sites we are committed to: Open and transparent consultation with stakeholders and local communities. Best in class environmental impact assessment to enhance and preserve local ecology and the habitats therein in the context of developing a wind farm. Minimising the impact on surrounding forestry in so far as possible. Complying with all relevant environmental legislation, regulations and other requirements as they arise. Minimising the landscape impact of wind farms through careful siting and design. Considering the impact on recreational users, and also the opportunity there may be when developing a wind farm to put in trails or other recreational facilities. Minimising the risk of pollution and conducting our business in an environmentally friendly way. Participating in discussion groups through industry associations and initiatives (IWEA, etc) to raise awareness and improve industry wide performance. Environmental training of all employees and those of our partners. We will strive to influence third parties who work on our land to act in an environmentally responsible manner. Communicating this policy to our staff, suppliers, contractors, partners, stakeholders and customers with the aim of ensuring increased awareness and encouraging environmentally sustainable behaviour and responsible forest management. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 7 Coillte South Central BAU Strategic Plan 1.3 Telecommunications As one of the most significant and diverse landowners in the country Coillte has played a key role in supporting mobile telecommunications infrastructure in Ireland over the past 20 years. In the early years this