The future of forests in County Down is set to be informed by locals as part of a public engagement.

Forest Service has launched a consultation on the management of forests and woodlands. This comes after nearly 350 responses have been received with over 100 stakeholder organisations responding to previous consultations.

When the Down consultation is closed all of Northern Ireland will have been consulted upon.

Forest Service planning forester, Breandan Mulholland, said: "Forest Service is delighted with the responses received so far. We have received responses from a diverse range of stakeholders including those representing industry, recreation users, wildlife interests and local communities. This has helped us to improve plans to meet the diverse and sometimes competing demands of people, industry and nature.

-- Advertisement --

"Each year nearly nine million visits are made to Forest Service forests and woodlands across Northern Ireland. In County Down, Belvoir Park, Hillsborough and Castlewellan forests each have over 250,000 visits a year. Working in partnership with councils, in recent years millions of pounds have been invested in forest-based recreation facilities ranging from new facilities at Ballysallagh Forest in the north, to world class mountain bike facilities at Rostevor Forest. 

"As our forests develop as places of industry, environment and leisure, we are encouraging everyone to make their feelings known. This engagement enables everyone to become involved at an early stage of the forestry planning process.

"Forestry planning helps us deliver many services from our forests and woodlands, such as timber production and capture of carbon dioxide to mitigate climate change."

The consultation paper identifies opportunities where forest plans could be improved and suggests how this might be taken forward. The consultation can be accessed via the 'Citizen Space' website, or for assistance ring 028 7034 0867.

The consultation runs from 23 September to 30 November 2022.