Forestry Pest Monitoring Project

Forestry Pest Monitoring Project

In 2012, FFEC won an unusual tender with the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This was for the setting up of a nationwide network of monitoring stations or Fixed Observation Points. The purpose of these is to serve as an early-warning system. FFEC set up specialised traps that are then baited with pheromone lures which would be attractive to non-native insect pests of timber such as Ips typographus – the Eight-toothed Spruce Bark Beetle. Although this pest species has been recorded across Europe and recently found in England, it is absent from Ireland.

Every year since 2012, Flynn Furney Environmental Consultants has carried out maintenance and repairs on this trap network (they are in every county in the Republic). This includes ensuring that the traps are functioning, are in good repair and can be found and accessed by Forest Service staff. In 2019, Coillte engaged FFEC to set up additional traps close to any ports where timber might be imported, allowing them to monitor these potential pest pathways.

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