Unlike Ireland, European forest owners have been coping with natural disasters for decades ranging from insect pest and disease damage to major wildfires and windblow.
Most countries now have plans in place to deal with these, so we asked two experts in this field for their views on the European approach and how it would benefit Ireland including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) taskforce.
This week we talk to Dr Cormac O Carroll, an independent consultant based in Salzburg and senior advisor to Dasos, a major private forest owner in Ireland and Europe. Formerly, he was director of Pöyry’s global forestry and wood industry practice.
German storm damage approach
The three most destructive storms to hit European forests over the last 25 years were Lothar (December 1999), Gudrun (January 2005) and Kyrill (January 2007). “Germany was particularly hard hit by both Lothar and Kyrill so let’s look at what was done there,” says Dr O Carroll.
“In Germany, the Federal Ministry, equivalent to Ireland’s DAFM, focused on strategic planning – setting goals and priorities – as well as logistics, log storage, export markets and workforce acquisition, while operational planning and implementation were the responsibility of the state level ‘Länder’ forest organisations,” he explains.
“They took care of harvest planning and scheduling, defining safety protocols and methods for harvesting windblow as well as providing resources and forest management services to private owners on a pro bono basis. Post storm, the state forest organisations prioritised the marketing of private timber.”
He outlines the German government’s support which included subsidies and/or low interest loans for logistics/haulage, wet log storage, road repairs, marketing of storm damaged timber, reconstitution and replanting.
Support was also provided for financing investment into additional harvesting processing and sawmilling capacity.
“Further government measures included increasing the road weight limit from 40 to 46 tonnes and requesting Deutsche Bahn – the national railway company – to provide additional rail capacity for timber haulage,” according to Dr O Carroll.
“It goes without saying that co-operation and collaboration across the supply chain is critical if we are to successfully manage and process the 10 million m3 of windblown timber in Ireland,” he says. “The importance of communication and dialogue between all stakeholders cannot be overemphasised.”
He says “the most urgent priority is to plan and co-ordinate the windblow harvest nationally”, which means optimising the value for the entire estate – private and state.
“Windblow sites should be prioritised according to value, vulnerability to degradation, disease etc. There is an urgent need to develop potential export markets as well as the establishment of wet storage capacities.”
He dismisses suggestions that the market should decide or that a laissez-faire approach should be adopted. “Government assistance is needed if we are to get through this crisis and come out the other end in reasonable shape,” he says.
“In the case of Germany, after storm Lothar, the authorities quickly recognised that public subsidies were necessary for heavily storm-damaged private enterprises to survive.
Although some support may be available from the EU, such as the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and EU solidarity fund, it is national government that will have to do the heavy lifting.”
Responsibility
“A key, and so far unanswered, question is who should do what?” maintains Dr O Carroll.
“The operational and planning capabilities of our semi-state forestry organisation were transferred to Coillte in 1989 and these capabilities have not been developed by DAFM or any other state body interfacing with private growers.”
Coillte was established as a stand-alone semi-State company with a commercial mandate but without any authorisation on how it should normally interact with DAFM and other key stakeholders – including private forest owners – especially in the event of a disaster such as the recent windblow.
Dr O Carroll is convinced that Coillte has a key role to play in planning and managing the windblow. “It is therefore critical that Coillte be facilitated, encouraged and compensated to proactively participate in developing and implementing Ireland’s storm strategy,” he says. “It is difficult to envisage a successful outcome without their help.”
After storm Lothar in Germany, “the authorities quickly recognised that public subsidies were necessary for heavily storm-damaged private enterprises to survive,” says Dr O Carroll.
Seminar proposal to address markets, Government initiatives and exportsDr Cormac O Carroll and Dr Tomas Thuresson have offered to provide a seminar to DAFM and the taskforce to address storm related issues covering three themes.
Theme 1: Stopping the wood market from collapsing
Mapping and quantifying windblow volumes by assortment (to some extent already done).Harvest planning and prioritisation of objectives.Moving contractors within Ireland and from other EU countries to increase efficiency in processing.Log supply and harvest optimisation nationally.Log storage and logistics.Balancing supply and demand to manage log markets and pricing.
Theme 2: The need for government initiatives
Investigate the possibility of using EU catastrophe funding.Subsidies and supports required to facilitate market actions (eg) increased transport costs caused by supply optimisation, log storage etc.).
Theme 3: Where can the excess wood be placed on the European market?
Log export opportunities and logistics (log prices in parts of Europe are currently very attractive).In short
Government support for storm-affected growers.Urgent priority – to plan and co-ordinate windblow nationally.Coillte proactive involvement needed. Cooperation and collaboration across the supply chain are critical. Windblow sites prioritised according to value, vulnerability to degradation, disease etc.
Unlike Ireland, European forest owners have been coping with natural disasters for decades ranging from insect pest and disease damage to major wildfires and windblow.
Most countries now have plans in place to deal with these, so we asked two experts in this field for their views on the European approach and how it would benefit Ireland including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) taskforce.
This week we talk to Dr Cormac O Carroll, an independent consultant based in Salzburg and senior advisor to Dasos, a major private forest owner in Ireland and Europe. Formerly, he was director of Pöyry’s global forestry and wood industry practice.
German storm damage approach
The three most destructive storms to hit European forests over the last 25 years were Lothar (December 1999), Gudrun (January 2005) and Kyrill (January 2007). “Germany was particularly hard hit by both Lothar and Kyrill so let’s look at what was done there,” says Dr O Carroll.
“In Germany, the Federal Ministry, equivalent to Ireland’s DAFM, focused on strategic planning – setting goals and priorities – as well as logistics, log storage, export markets and workforce acquisition, while operational planning and implementation were the responsibility of the state level ‘Länder’ forest organisations,” he explains.
“They took care of harvest planning and scheduling, defining safety protocols and methods for harvesting windblow as well as providing resources and forest management services to private owners on a pro bono basis. Post storm, the state forest organisations prioritised the marketing of private timber.”
He outlines the German government’s support which included subsidies and/or low interest loans for logistics/haulage, wet log storage, road repairs, marketing of storm damaged timber, reconstitution and replanting.
Support was also provided for financing investment into additional harvesting processing and sawmilling capacity.
“Further government measures included increasing the road weight limit from 40 to 46 tonnes and requesting Deutsche Bahn – the national railway company – to provide additional rail capacity for timber haulage,” according to Dr O Carroll.
“It goes without saying that co-operation and collaboration across the supply chain is critical if we are to successfully manage and process the 10 million m3 of windblown timber in Ireland,” he says. “The importance of communication and dialogue between all stakeholders cannot be overemphasised.”
He says “the most urgent priority is to plan and co-ordinate the windblow harvest nationally”, which means optimising the value for the entire estate – private and state.
“Windblow sites should be prioritised according to value, vulnerability to degradation, disease etc. There is an urgent need to develop potential export markets as well as the establishment of wet storage capacities.”
He dismisses suggestions that the market should decide or that a laissez-faire approach should be adopted. “Government assistance is needed if we are to get through this crisis and come out the other end in reasonable shape,” he says.
“In the case of Germany, after storm Lothar, the authorities quickly recognised that public subsidies were necessary for heavily storm-damaged private enterprises to survive.
Although some support may be available from the EU, such as the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and EU solidarity fund, it is national government that will have to do the heavy lifting.”
Responsibility
“A key, and so far unanswered, question is who should do what?” maintains Dr O Carroll.
“The operational and planning capabilities of our semi-state forestry organisation were transferred to Coillte in 1989 and these capabilities have not been developed by DAFM or any other state body interfacing with private growers.”
Coillte was established as a stand-alone semi-State company with a commercial mandate but without any authorisation on how it should normally interact with DAFM and other key stakeholders – including private forest owners – especially in the event of a disaster such as the recent windblow.
Dr O Carroll is convinced that Coillte has a key role to play in planning and managing the windblow. “It is therefore critical that Coillte be facilitated, encouraged and compensated to proactively participate in developing and implementing Ireland’s storm strategy,” he says. “It is difficult to envisage a successful outcome without their help.”
After storm Lothar in Germany, “the authorities quickly recognised that public subsidies were necessary for heavily storm-damaged private enterprises to survive,” says Dr O Carroll.
Seminar proposal to address markets, Government initiatives and exportsDr Cormac O Carroll and Dr Tomas Thuresson have offered to provide a seminar to DAFM and the taskforce to address storm related issues covering three themes.
Theme 1: Stopping the wood market from collapsing
Mapping and quantifying windblow volumes by assortment (to some extent already done).Harvest planning and prioritisation of objectives.Moving contractors within Ireland and from other EU countries to increase efficiency in processing.Log supply and harvest optimisation nationally.Log storage and logistics.Balancing supply and demand to manage log markets and pricing.
Theme 2: The need for government initiatives
Investigate the possibility of using EU catastrophe funding.Subsidies and supports required to facilitate market actions (eg) increased transport costs caused by supply optimisation, log storage etc.).
Theme 3: Where can the excess wood be placed on the European market?
Log export opportunities and logistics (log prices in parts of Europe are currently very attractive).In short
Government support for storm-affected growers.Urgent priority – to plan and co-ordinate windblow nationally.Coillte proactive involvement needed. Cooperation and collaboration across the supply chain are critical. Windblow sites prioritised according to value, vulnerability to degradation, disease etc. 
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