Written answers

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Forestry Management

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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25. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason there is no provision to provide funding in the proposed new forestry programme for the implementing of management plans for the extremely valuable and vulnerable 0.002% of ancient woodlands sites, most of which are NHAs and SACs; the further reason the new forestry programme fails to focus on these ancient woodland sites regards biodiversity, genetic material security, climate mitigation, measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35164/14]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ancient woodland refers to those woods that have had a continuous history of cover since before the period when planting and afforestation became common practice (mid‐1600s). This date is used because in the 1650s, two surveys were undertaken in Ireland to establish land use, land value and ownership. These surveys are the two most useful historical sources when identifying ancient woodlands. All native woodlands in Ireland are of conservation importance due to the small national resource estimated to cover only 1 ‐ 2% of the country. Approximately 4,250 hectares of native woodland are designated as nature reserves or national parks, 6,500 hectares as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) (including nature reserves and national parks) and another 23,500 hectares have been identified as potential Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs). These may not necessarily be classified as ancient woodlands however.

Ancient woodlands themselves are of particular importance for a variety of reasons, not least that these represent potential links with prehistoric forests which are by their very nature irreplaceable. These forests also play a role in preserving natural topographical features such as undisturbed relic soils and unaltered watercourses, which are increasingly rare in the modern landscape. They are also of inherent cultural value and may contain a host of archaeological features.

Proposals for a new forestry programme covering the period 2014 – 2020 have been completed and have been released for public consultation. The programme itself has been designed to address four specific needs as follows:

- Increase the level of forest cover

- Increase supply of forest-based biomass to bridge expected supply gap by 2020 and beyond

- To support private forest holders in actively managing their forests and finally

- Enhance the environmental and social benefits of new and existing forests

The proposals to include forest management plans for ancient woodlands can be considered within the context of this public consultation process and within the scope of addressing the final need dealing with the environmental and social benefits that can be delivered by existing forestry. This consultation process is due to be completed on the 13thOctober 2014 after which the proposals will be submitted to the EU Commission for State aid approval.

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