Published: Wednesday, 24th February, 2010 12:00pm

Green Belt - pioneers of private afforestation

by Tom Carron

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Mossie Ryan, managing director of Green Belt, in his Virginia office.

Not everyone is aware that Ireland's largest private forestry company has its headquarters in Virginia, County Cavan.

Green Belt is the leading player here in this country in the drive to develop the concept of private tree planting and they have brought a new consciousness of the benefits, both economic and environmental, that flow from a healthy and substantive forestry resource.

Regarded as the country most suitable in Europe for the growing of trees Ireland was once largely covered in forest. However, it was practically denuded of trees by the early 1900s as over the previous centuries timber was in such demand for a whole range of uses including the building of ships to serve the demands of the Empire.

The business initiative of two men in the early 1980s is now going a long way towards redressing this imbalance. Mossey Ryan and the late Tim O'Brien established Green Belt in 1982. Both qualified and experienced foresters they worked for the Forestry Department up to that time. Up until the 1980s it was the State who were responsible for tree planting and afforestation. However, Ireland was now within the EU and things were changing. The Irish government and Brussels decided to promote private afforestation and a system of grants was introduced to encourage land owners to view tree planting as a crop capable of being harvested with considerable economic benefits.

Both Mossie Ryan and Tim O'Brien were imbued with their own vision of developing what they viewed as Ireland's great potential as a tree growing nation with vast benefits for the economy and indeed for the ecology.

Their company, Green Belt, was sought after for its expertise in the planting and managing of private forestry. During the 1980s it was largely pension funds and corporate investors who were attracted to private afforestation as a long term commercial endeavour. However, in the early 1990s there was a new incentive launched to encourage farmers to plant tracts of their land. That incentive was in the form of an annual premium - a farmer who decided to plant his land got all his planting and maintenance undertaken free of charge and he/she also qualified for an annual premium of up to €230 per acre per annum for 20 years.

Pointing out that all income from private forestry is tax free, Mossie Ryan explains that this tax free status for a forestry crop continues right through the process - with income generated from the different thinnings and from the final harvest all going to the farmer or private forestry owner without any tax deductions to the State.

"Another attraction is that there is no inheritance tax if you are passing on a forestry to members of your family", reveals Mossie, something which he believes is a decided advantage if you desire to pass on a resource to your offspring in its totality.

Green Belt engages in the planting, management and harvesting of private forestry for their clients across the 32 counties. With 26 university qualified experts plus further experienced personnel they offer an accessible and highly professional service which enables the forestry owner to relax in the knowledge that his/her tract of forest is in the hands of people highly capable in their field of tree husbandry.

"We engage in planting and maintenance right across the forestry's lifespan. We construct roads for the owner, harvest the plantation and sell on the timber", he reveals.

Thirty years is the normal lifetime of a forest but it can be up to 40 years depending on the soil and the species of tree involved.

The harvest commences in year 15 or 16 again depending on the quality of the ground, if it is good soil. Besides the annual premium, as stated, there is an income from the thinning out process which is undertaken at about four yearly intervals. At each thinning out process the trees taken out become more valuable so the forestry owner is deriving an increased income as the forest moves towards maturity and final harvesting.

Mossie Ryan explains that the emergence of biomass fuel as an energy and heating source has created a demand even for first thinnings. Firms such as Masonite also buy those younger trees to service their wood manufacturing needs.

Early thinnings go for pulp and some stake material but as the thinning out process progresses over the succeeding years the trees cut out are more substantial with the wood generated from them needed for the making of pallets and larger boards.

The final crop will produce about 400 tonnes of timber per hectare and should make about €16,000 per hectare tax free. This is a considerable return on top of the income the forestry owner has already received across the lifetime of the forest. There is also the important fact that he/she still owns the land and can plant it again.

Besides their extensive commitment here in Ireland where they manage 200,000 acres of forest, Green Belt also manage and grow forest plantations in Scotland, Eastern Europe and they have a teak plantation in Panama.

This extensive business with a global reach is run from Green Belt's head office in Virginia. Up until the 1980s it was the State who engaged in tree planting and it was usually in areas where the land was poor and infertile.

"When we started Ireland had 6% forestry cover; it now is 11%. We are trying to get it up to 17% - the European average is 30%," says Mossie.

According to the MD of Green Belt there are about 200 hectares planted each year in County Cavan. It is all done privately with none done by the State in recent times.

"We would be doing 50% of all private forestry here in this country at this time with the balance undertaken by a number of other smaller companies and by private individuals," he reveals.

Besides the income generated from the different tree crops over forestry's lifespan it is now likely that there will be further income via a new system of carbon credits.

"You will get paid for your forest if the forest is acting as a carbon sink," Mossie Ryan informs us.

There is huge potential for tree planting here in Ireland. The climate is ideal with good soil also being a critical factor that other countries would dearly love to possess. While we have been slower out of the blocks in terms of afforestation than many other European countries it is very likely that the considerable financial benefits of engaging in tree planting will attract more and more Irish landowners into this line of enterprise in the years ahead.