Participants in a newly announced forestry Knowledge Transfer (KT) scheme will be reimbursed €70 for each meeting attended up to a maximum of €490.

Applications for 52 forestry KT groups which will have a capacity for over 1,000 participants have been accepted by the Department of Agriculture.

Organisers will receive €6,500 per KT group organised

The groups are being established to address barriers to timber mobilisation by encouraging higher levels of forest management activity.

Each group will be permitted a maximum of 20 participants who will need to attend seven meetings or events to complete the programme. Organisers will receive €6,500 per KT group organised.

The establishment of KT groups was one of the key initiatives recommended in the mid-term review of the Department’s national forestry programme.

Next phase

Group organisers will now be notified by the Department of their acceptance into the scheme and can move to the next stage of recruiting participants and facilitators.

Commenting on the announcement Minister of State Andrew Doyle said: “I am delighted to see the huge level of interest shown in these Forestry KT groups scheme and to announce that we are funding all successful applications.

"These groups will facilitate best practice and shared learning and aim to fill an identified knowledge gap in the forestry sector. I look forward to seeing them develop over time and to them adding value for private forest owners and for the Irish forestry sector as a whole”.

Unlike the agriculture KT scheme which is part-funded by the EU under the Rural Development Programme, the forestry KTG will be 100% exchequer-funded.

Read more

Grow trees to extend grazing season

Forests – complementing the farm enterprise