UPM Tilhill sweeps the board at Welsh forestry awards

(UPM Tilhill, North Wales, 13 August 2012) – Staff from UPM Tilhill’s Bala office are celebrating after winning a string of awards at the Royal Welsh Show Woodlands Competition including the top accolade of best entry in the competition and the Institute of Chartered Foresters’ Challenge (ICF)[1] Trophy.

Coed Llandegla, which is owned by UPM Tilhill and is now one of the leading mountain bike centres in the UK, was awarded The Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland Gold Medal Certificate for the Best Entry in the competition as well as a Gold in Class 11 for ‘Woodlands over five hectares that have been directed to multi-benefit forestry including demonstrable environmental and social benefits’.

The judges said: “A very, very good entry in this class. Even without the mountain biking this forest has a well-focused silvicultural plan being implemented to meet all objectives set out in Better Woodlands for Wales including nature conservation.”

UPM Tilhill Deputy District Manager Simon Graham was thrilled to win the ICF Challenge Trophy for the best professional management.

In the ‘Best managed woodland of between 50 hectares and 200 hectares’ category, UPM Tilhill won Gold, Silver and Bronze. Gold was awarded for Cwm Ffernol, silver for Bryn y Pentre and bronze for Lletty Piod.

In the ‘Best managed woodland over 200 hectares and under 1,000 hectares’ section, UPM Tilhill took Bronze for Hafod Boeth for efforts to manage ecological and other benefits as well as grow quality timber.

Gold was also secured in the ‘Area managed using low impact silvicultural system of any species or age of an area between 1.0 hectare and 10 hectares’ for Cefn Llwyd. In the ‘Best managed woodland over five hectares and up to 50 hectares’ category, gold was also awarded for UPM Tilhill managed Maenan Hall - a woodland that has provided a good financial return for the owner, and been much improved in terms of quality.

Bronze was awarded for Dinam Estate, described as “a delightful oak wood” by the judges in the ‘Wood or stand containing 40 percent broadleaves over 40 years old.’

North Wales District Manager for UPM Tilhill Rory Chisholm said: “We were absolutely thrilled to win so many awards and our clients are delighted too. These awards are extremely valuable and are testament to the professionalism and skill of our staff. The judging is extremely rigorous and involves inspections by both judges.”

UPM Tilhill staff involved in the winning entries include: John Ferguson; Simon Graham; Simon Miller; Lawson Chater, Claire Wightman and Oliver Thompson.

Woodland owners from across six counties in North Wales were invited to take part in the Royal Welsh Agricultural society’s annual woodlands competition. The event is held in a different area of Wales each year – South, Mid and North – and in 2012 it was the turn of Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, Denbigh, Flint and Montgomeryshire to compete for the leading awards.

Established more than 60 years ago, UPM Tilhill is a national company operating from a network of offices throughout the UK.

UPM Tilhill is the UK’s largest timber harvesting and forest management company. The company provides a full range of consultancy and contracting services to the forest owner and forestry investor. Further information is available on the company’s website at www.upm-tilhill.com