WALES should seek to manage its productive forests to reach their full potential. 

That's according to industry body Confor, which believes doing so would help to mitigate the financial challenges being faced by environment agency Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

More than 250 jobs are at risk at the organisation - which oversees forestry in the country - and the Welsh Government recently had to step in to foot a £19 million unpaid tax bill. In recent times, NRW has been criticised by the forestry sector for having a "negative attitude" towards the industry. 

“The Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE), which is managed by NRW, is managed for sustainable timber production and holds a great economic asset for our country,” said Confor national manager Elaine Heckley. “The WGWE holds the majority of the current timber volume in Wales, and it is vital it is managed to enhance the viability of Wales’s forestry and wood processing sector, and to support the Welsh economy.”

Over the past 10 years, the volume of NRW timber placed on the market from the WGWE has consistently fallen well below what could be made available on a sustainable basis - the volume of timber harvested has been below what these wood producing woodlands can produce annually.

With targeted resource, Confor believes further timber volumes could be placed on to the market from the WGWE that would help address not only the current financial shortfall, but also enable NRW to support much needed further investment in Wales.

Elaine added: “This is not a ‘silver bullet’ for NRW as it faces current financial challenges, but by utilising the current growing resource of the WGWE in a sustainable manner the industry can help NRW and the Welsh Government, and deliver much needed benefit for the economy.”

A spokesperson for Natural Resources Wales said: “Public funding is exceptionally tight across the whole of the UK. We are looking across all of our remit and critically reviewing what we can and must continue to do, what we stop, and what we slow or do differently to fulfil our Corporate Plan ambitions.

“This is no different to any other public sector body at the moment.

“The proposals regarding the management of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate are to continue to increase timber harvest for the sustainable management of natural resources and income stability, whilst providing leadership on health and safety management.  We continue to welcome and explore opportunities to work with the sector to deliver this.

“We are now reviewing the information received from Trade Unions following our consultation to fully understand the impacts of the decisions for our colleagues, our partners, stakeholders and our customers to determine if any changes are needed, whilst still meeting our cost savings target.

“Once the final decisions are made, we will be able to work with partners to look for future solutions. We cannot pre-empt any future solutions until the final decisions are taken by the NRW Board in early November.”