On the 23rd of February 2008 South African forestry campaigner Wally Menne (far right), members of the Woodland League and the local community visited the Moyode Woodlands.

Wally Menne is a member of Timberwatch, which is a coalition of non-governmental environmental organisations and many concerned individuals. Members share a concern for the ways in which alien timber plantations impact on the environment. Biodiversity, natural landscapes and ecosystems all suffer, as do human communities, in areas affected by industrial exploitation.

Andrew St. Ledger (right) from the Woodland League also addressed the community on the day, highlighting the importance of preserving our native woodlands.

The Woodland League is a not-for-profit independent community-based organisation. It is non-denominational, a non-political advocate of Agenda 21, and an all-Ireland body.  Their aim is to restore the relationship between people and their woodlands.

The Woodland League came together through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification initiative whereby Coillte were seeking an 'eco-label' verification to satisfy the Irish state's commitments to Sustainable Forest Management under the Helsinki and Lisbon agreements. FSC is an Agenda 21-based process and with this understanding, they engaged in this consultation process, along with many other communities and NGOs.

The Convention on Biological Diversity 1993, which the state also signed up to, whose definition of sustainability emphasises the protection of native flora and fauna in situ / place of origin -particularly the native trees of any place (being nature's highest achievement in the plant kingdom), states that native forests must be granted highest priority for protection, conservation and enhancement. All stability in nature of soil, air and water is conferred by native trees.

During the course the day the group were lead around the woodlands by Jackie Byrne (above centre) and Seamus Taylor (below) both retired and experienced foresters from the area.

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