People from across the Shannonside region were among the most active in engaging as part of a public consultation into future plans for forestry and plantations in Ireland.
The government has this week published its Shared National Vision for trees, woods and forests in Ireland until 2050 which heavily references the attitude and opposition to forestry from counties such as Leitrim, Longford and Roscommon.
"The right trees in the right places for the right reasons with the right management" is the key message emerging from a new government roadmap outlining how it intends to plant more trees across the country in the coming decades
As part of a detailed public consultation, people from across the Shannonside region engaged in several different strands expressing their positive and negative experiences of forestry.
Save Leitrim, also contributed to the focus groups, but abstained from Irish Rural link survey
Over fifty people from across the Shannonside region DID engage including one farmer in Roscommon who said that they would "love to integrate their forest into the local community but the cost of insurance makes it impossible"
Another Roscommon forestry owner claimed that there needed to "Better opportunities for farmers to plant commercial forestry and there was a "role for native woodland planting, also tree line, hedges, under new CAP. "
They went also went onto claim that a greater appreciation of trees and forestry among rural communities was required and there was a need to "get away from harmful, negative and often uninformed narrative on commercial forestry".
A forester in County. Leitrim claimed that "trees need to be suitable for the land and diverse woodlands are great but not all trees are compatible.
They also mentioned that there was "no point looking for native woodlands if the owners aren't paid yearly like the agricultural payments as why else would they plant it".
The publications comes ahead of new Forest Strategy and Forestry Programme which will be published in the coming months.
