New Knowledge Transfer Scheme for Forest Owners

Introduction

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Andrew Doyle T.D., today announced a new scheme to establish Knowledge Transfer Groups (KTGs) for forestry. The scheme comes on foot of a successful pilot scheme run last year for these groups.

Minister Doyle said that “Knowledge transfer groups are well established in other sectors and I am very pleased to be announcing them for the forestry sector now. They’re a proven method of sharing best practice amongst participants in a sector and empowering them to maximise the value of their holding. They have a clearly defined role for the forestry sector now and by filling this knowledge gap a potential barrier to the mobilisation of timber and biomass can be removed.” 

These KTGS are aimed at private forest owners that require additional knowledge to help them undertake appropriate management activities in their forests. Discussions will be facilitated by a professional forester and will incorporate both classroom style learning as well as practical elements. KTGs will also encourage these forest owners engage with forestry groups and forestry professionals. KTGs will provide the mechanism for gaining this expertise and empower them to manage their own forests over its rotation.

Under the scheme forestry groups (including Forest Owner Groups), forestry companies and forestry consultants can apply to organise KTGs.

Invitation to submit an application form (Form A)

Applications to establish and run a national network of KTGs are now invited from forestry groups, forestry companies and individual forestry professionals. Please note that at this stage the application is to run groups. If approved, individuals can subsequently apply to become participants of these groups.

These groups will provide forest owners with the information to become more active forest managers. Once approval has issued by the Department, successful applicants will then invite forest owners to submit an expression of interest to take part in the KTG they are running.  

• Terms and Conditions of the Forestry Knowledge Transfer Scheme (PDF)
• Form A - Application for Forestry Knowledge Transfer Group (Word document)

Completed applications should be emailed to: ForestryKTG@agriculture.gov.ie by 4pm, Friday 14 September 2018. Any queries regarding the new scheme can also be forwarded to this email address.

KTG participation and payments

Each KTG can have a maximum of 20 participants and each participant will need to attend 7 meetings or outdoor events in order to complete the programme.

KTG payments are broken down as follows:

• Each KTG participant will receive €70 per meeting attended
• Each KTG organiser will receive €6,500 per KTG organised

A total of 7 meetings and events will be organised per KTG. The maximum payment to each participant is €490. 

KTG evaluation

An evaluation process will apply to ensure that only applications that reach a minimum standard are considered. Applications will also be ranked in the event that the scheme is oversubscribed.

Each KTG application received will be rated according to the following criteria:

• How client base/membership/future participants would benefit from membership of a KTG(s)
• Capacity/experience of each KTG organiser to run the KTG programme
• Extent of previous knowledge transfer activities (e.g. field trips, seminars, publications, etc.)
• Promotion strategy to attract inactive forest owners to the KTG

All applicants will be ranked according to the marks awarded. Available KTGs will be distributed 50:50 between forestry producer groups and forestry companies/forestry consultants.