Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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209. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of kilometres of riparian native woodlands that have been planted under the woodlands for water funding to remove exotic conifers that were planted too close to rivers and streams and replaced with native woodlands. [3723/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Woodlands for Waterdocument describes how the Native Woodland Establishment Scheme could be used to protect and enhance streams, rivers and lakes.

The document sets out a number of water-related ecosystem services newly creatednative woodlands can deliver, such as protection against nutrient and soil runoff from adjoining lands, bank stabilisation and the restoration of the riparian ecosystem, the regulation of instream water temperatures, the creation of natural flood retention features, etc..

The Native Woodland Scheme - Conservation (NWSC) funds the restoration of existingwoodlands, to help protect these important areas of native biodiversity. Typical operations include the removal of non-native tree species and exotic invasive shrubs, the installation of stock and deer fencing, and the creation of planting coupes involving appropriate native species, to rejuvenate the woodland. NWSC also funds the replanting of recently clear-felled conifer stands, using native woodland, where reforestation with commercial conifer species would be inappropriate.

Regarding the latter, this approach was used on several demonstration sites under the Freshwater Pearl Mussel KerryLIFE Project. Overall, in order to be potentially eligible for funding, applications under NWSC must meet specific criteria designed to better focus effort on strategic areas, which include sensitive waterways.

In the last five years, 51 applicants have received funding for over 300 hectares of Native Woodland Conservation. It is safe to assume that a very high percentage of the sites involved areas directly adjoining a stream, river or lake.

A proportion of the projects funded involved the replacement of non-native conifers with native woodland in areas close to streams, rivers and lakes.