Replanting a forest (Reforestation) is a legislative obligation on landowners. This means you must replant your forest post harvesting. Now, saying that, harvesting revenues are extremely lucrative and in recent times have yielded exceptional returns for forest owners. The price of timber from the forest is lower today than 2 years ago, but in time we will see this rebound once more.

Green Belt has always worked with forest owners to deliver the most advantageous results for their forest. For many, they see the replanting of a forest as an obligation beyond them, and they prefer to sell the lands at this point and reap the rewards. There is no penalty for this and the obligation passes to the new owner. We are seeing more and more people really interested in buying what we call 'Brown lands' for replanting. Some of the main reasons for this are that it means your money is active immediately - the licencing delays means there can be a lag of 18 months from land purchase to trees in the ground.

With a sustainability plan for the reforestation lands, there can be significant additionality in the Carbon sequestered in the forest on its second rotation. For starters, the trees are a better quality tree and grow at a quicker rate - therefore sequestering more Carbon. We encourage the new land owner to practice as much as possible a chemical free establishment of their forest. This has obvious gains as it minimises leaching into watercourses and so on. Similarly, the establishment of riparian zones along waterways drastically reduces run off to almost zero from a forestry development.

The introduction of Biochar into the planting lines and blended with organic fertiliser is a huge benefit to the soils and to the trees. Biochar is a natural catalyst, designed to improve the active rate of fertiliser uptake by the plants through cation exchange, enhance the soil quality and improve the soil biodiversity. This is achieved by creating a comfort zone for microorganisms to exist and thrive within for extended periods of time - they will break down the available nutrients in the soil, and resist the biochar as it is too hard to break down (Biochar is about 80% pure carbon).

All of these factors either individually or collectively will improve the quality of the forestry under management, particularly in poorer soils. We believe that purchasing and managing reforestation lands is an excellent route to improve your own carbon footprint and to build team morale through planting activities.

To look at how indigenous forestry projects can help you** ESG activities and manage your emissions**, contact our team today.

Maurice@greenbelt.ie or reception@greenbelt.ie