Wednesday 30^th January 2008: Minister Mary Wallace, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with special responsibility for Forestry, today launched a DVD titled “Bringing The Bogs Back To LIFE” at the ENFO Headquarters in Dublin. It has been produced by Coillte to promote its EU LIFE funded bog restoration projects across the country and to demonstrate the work that went into them. It is available free of charge from Coillte.

 

Speaking at the event Minister Wallace said:

 

“I am delighted to be here today to launch this informative DVD which tells the story of the great work done by Coillte under the EU funded LIFE initiative in restoring both raised bogs and blanket bogs in Ireland.

 

“Having had the chance to view the DVD it provided a very comprehensive record of the projects and I commend all who were involved in its production. I know that Coillte is also successfully implementing another important LIFE-Nature project – on the restoration of Priority Woodland Habitats, which I had the pleasure of launching recently and I wish you well with both the DVD and your ongoing work in this area.”

 

Also speaking the at the launch, David Gunning, Chief Executive of Coillte said:

 

“Coillte manages its forests commercially but, in doing so, we pay a lot of attention to environmental and social considerations. Our forests are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as being well managed in accordance with strict environmental, social and economic criteria.  Nature Conservation is an integral part of forest and land management and 15% of Coillte’s estate is managed with nature conservation as the primary management objective.

 

“The DVD produced as part of these projects will stand as a record of the work done and the contribution Coillte has made in restoring some of these valuable habitats across the country. Copies are available free of charge by contacting Coillte or via our website – www.coillte.ie,” he said.

 

The blanket bog project which has just finished involved 20 sites in counties, Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry and Laois. The raised bog project which involves 14 sites, and will finish at the end of September, 2008 has sites in counties, Cavan, Galway, Roscommon, Meath, Longford, Westmeath, and Laois.

 

The promotional DVD has been produced to highlight the objectives, actions and expected results of Coillte’s two bog restoration projects. You can read more about the Bog Restoration projects via www.coillte.ie.

 

Ends.

 

For more information contact:

Tom Byrne

Coillte

Tel: 353 1 201 5231 / 086 810 4224

 

 

About Coillte

 

Coillte is a commercial company operating in forestry, land based businesses, renewable energy and panel products.

 

The company employs approx 1,200 people and was established in 1988. It owns over 445,000 hectares of land, about 7% of the land cover of Ireland.

 

For more information see: www.coillte.ie