There has been a significant increase in afforestation, felling and roads licences for February compared with previous months.

“Our work plan for March is broadly similar to February and is focused on increasing the output of licences,” said Colm Hayes, assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

In an update to stakeholders, he pointed out that 442 licences were issued in February compared with 215 in January for afforestation, felling and roads (Table 1).

Afforestation

Afforestation licences have increased from 37 to 60, representing an increase from 270ha to 531ha. The average new planting site size is 8.3ha compared with 7ha in recent years.

“These licences are crucial for our customers and the uptake of our plants,” said Teige Ryan of None So Hardy Nurseries, who welcomed the increase.

“The continuation of this increase and the full implementation of the Mackinnon report on streamlining procedures are vital in reversing the recent decline in planting.”

He stressed the need for continuity in achieving a viable planting programme.

“Due to the three-year growing cycle of our crops, we already have plants in production to achieve the Government’s annual 8,000ha planting target for 2020, 2021 and 2022.”

Felling

The absence of sufficient felling licences has had a negative impact throughout the sector. While Coillte has had no timber auction for three months, the company is now preparing its first auction scheduled this month based on 122 licences issued in February, amounting to 373,000m3 of timber.

“In February, we had set ourselves the target of doubling the output of licensing figures in hectares,” said Colm Hayes. “While this figure is closer to 40% increase in hectares, we have [achieved] a volume increase of 105% as a result of more clearfells in February.”

While only 53 licences amounting to 60,000m3 of timber were issued to private growers in February, they received 77 licences in January covering 1,150ha and an estimated 201,000m3 of logs.

Roads

Road approvals have more than doubled as licences increased from 16 to 32, representing 5,329m in January and 10,017m in February.

“The licensing scheme for single consent for forest roads is also live, having been opened for applications in mid-February,” Hayes said.

The Department has also issued a circular to the trade announcing the single consent system

“I have written to CEOs of local authorities and the chief executive of the County and City Management Association setting out the new requirements for mandatory consultation, time frames, forms, etc.

“The Department has also issued a circular to the trade announcing the single consent system.

“We have received some questions of clarification on which we are currently preparing a response for circulation to all.”

Stakeholder consultation

One of the main outputs in February “has been bilateral engagement with individual forestry companies on a number of issues,” he said.

The purpose of sharing this information is to assist registered foresters in making informed decisions

“As per previous correspondence, we issued a circular to the trade which included information and documentation such as the district inspectors Standard Operating Procedures for Appropriate Assessment screening, the Bird Foraging Table, Annex 1 Habitats Table and Annex 2 Species Table which district inspectors use to inform their screening decisions.

“The purpose of sharing this information is to assist registered foresters in making informed decisions themselves when developing applications and to indicate the nature of the supporting information that should accompany applications.”

Adherence to the NIS template, if an NIS is required, is important to ensure consistency

In his communiqué, Colm Hayes said the Department also issued the updated template to be used by foresters and ecologists when developing natura impact statements (NIS) together with a guidance document.

“Adherence to the NIS template, if an NIS is required, is important to ensure consistency and to facilitate the DAFM in undertaking the appropriate assessment,” he explained.

“We have also met with some company ecologists and gone through the NIS with them. Additional training will continue this month.”

He said the Department has an existing priority list of sites based on input from stakeholders “on which we will continue to liaise”. He said applications with an NIS will continue to receive priority.

“In light of the backlog of ‘screened in’ files and the rate at which new applications are being received, any screened in application that is accompanied by an NIS does not need to join the queue for appropriate assessment and can instead be prioritised by the Department.”

He said the Department continues to engage with all stakeholder bodies and held a number of bilateral meetings in the last month in order to provide detailed updates.

I should emphasise that we are not yet at optimum capacity for the purpose of processing licences

“The Department is recruiting ecologists and has engaged outside ecological expertise to assist with carrying out appropriate assessment on individual licence applications,” he said.

“However, I should emphasise that we are not yet at optimum capacity for the purpose of processing licences.” He outlined progress in February including:

  • A multi-annual tender to contract in external ecological expertise was published in mid-February. This will bring in more private ecologists to complement existing resources.
  • In the meantime, the Department contracted in four other local ecologists last week.
  • The company MKO Environmental Consultants continues to work on a backlog of files until a successful tenderer is in place.
  • Two permanent Department ecologist posts have been offered and accepted.
  • He said the Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) continues to schedule hearings each week.

    “We have contracted in three new specialist planners to FAC who have now commenced work. We would expect to see an increase in FAC output as a direct result.”

    Reaction

    While nurseries welcomed the increase in licence approvals, forestry company spokespersons expressed reservations. “There are serious concerns regarding the backlog of 1,200 files for afforestation, felling and roading licences on the ecology work list within the Department and we have no data on how quickly this will be reduced,” one spokesperson maintained.

    Even after windblow, some forest owners are waiting in excess of 12 months to get a felling licence

    “Forest owners are missing the opportunity to thin their forests and losing income and value.

    “Even after windblow, some forest owners are waiting in excess of 12 months to get a felling licence in the very forests that the Department approved for planting in the first place but does not have the capacity to issue licences while the trees are losing value by the day.”

    In short

  • Afforestation licences almost doubled for February to 531ha.
  • Licences for felling doubled to 433,000m3 for February.
  • Roads approval for 10km.
  • Not yet at optimum capacity for the purpose of processing licences.