Department clarifies aspects of the Forestry Programme

Last week a number of stakeholders withheld their views on the new Forestry Programme until full details were made available on conditions attached to State Aid approval. The EU “Guidelines for State aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas (2022/C 485/01)” provide overall guidelines but do not provide specific details on key areas of the national programme.

We contacted the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) seeking answers to specific questions on the various schemes in the programme covering afforestation and support measures.

The DAFM spokesperson said the support measures are still being discussed with the Commission and have yet to receive State Aid approval. Support schemes and grants cover forest road construction, conversion to continuous cover forestry (CCF), reforestation, broadleaf tending, nurseries, knowledge transfer, etc.

The afforestation programme comprises 12 forest types (FTs) . These are unchanged since they were lodged for State Aid approval in 2022 (Table 1).

The spokesperson replied to a number of questions on the afforestation element of the programme including tree species breakdown, planting peats, funding afforestation by State companies, environmental conditions and the allocation of €1.3bn funding.

Tree species breakdown

“The new programme is aimed at providing a diversity of FTs at the local level, coupled with the achievement of the national 50% broadleaf target,” said the DAFM spokesperson. “The 50% target will be monitored at national level and will not be applied at the application level,” she added.

“Each application will require an area of biodiversity enhancement of 15% and the remaining area must include 20% broadleaves. This requirement for every application will ensure that no regional or local area is dominated by a single species.”

So, while the 50:50 ratio of broadleaves to conifers applies at a national level, the spokesperson said: “In addition to the FT rules driving species composition and the proportion of broadleaves to conifers planted, an overarching requirement applies whereby at an individual project level, broadleaves must comprise 20% of all areas planted.”

Planting peats

The spokesperson outlined the importance of Ireland’s peatlands “for biodiversity, water and the landscape” as well as playing “a significant role in carbon storage”. She said many forests on peat soils are a net source of carbon dioxide so “changes are required to ensure that no new legacy impacts are created by new afforestation”.

The following scenarios will limit the impact of carbon loss and “ensure that planting will have a neutral to positive impact on carbon”:

Scenario 1: “DAFM will require a peat depth threshold of 30cm for the afforestation of organo-mineral soils that are in agricultural use and where the R+N score is six or more,” maintained the spokesperson. A 50cm peat layer is accepted as an organo-mineral soil in Scotland. “This is the first time that a peat depth threshold is being introduced for organo-mineral soils,” she added. R+N is an assessment of site suitability based on the percentage cover of different plant species in a proposed afforestation site.

Scenario 2: On afforestation of fens and cutaway peats “DAFM will permit planting of only native species on modified fens and cutaway peats that are in agricultural use where (i) the requirements of the Native Woodland Scheme are met; (ii) no additional drainage takes place; and (iii) the site R+N score is six or more”.

No peat depth threshold requirement applies in Scenario 2 “but sites must meet the R+N score to be considered on applications and other associated environmental criteria”.

Regarding reforestation on peats the spokesperson said: “Reforestation provides significant opportunities to restructure existing forests in a way that avoids or minimises impacts on various environmental receptors, such as biodiversity, water, archaeology and the landscape.”

She said this is “of particular relevance in relation to ‘legacy forests’ which are existing forests established “using techniques and practices no longer [deemed] appropriate, due to (inter alia) possible environmental impacts”.

There are no peat depth thresholds applied to reforestation sites in the new Forestry Programme but DAFM “will provide funding to facilitate forest owners who wish to restructure their forests” including proposed schemes “to fund reforestation by CCF and biodiversity enhancement.”

Grant aid for State companies including Coillte

“The programme provides for public bodies such as Coillte to avail of grants and premiums,” said the spokesperson pointing to the recent Climate Change Advisory Council’s (CCAC) Annual Review, which “expects Coillte to play a major role in Ireland’s drive to achieve an 8,000ha annual afforestation programme”.

Environmental constraints

In reply to concerns by stakeholders that there will be prohibitive environmental constraints placed on commercial afforestation, “existing measures and safeguards will be retained,” according to the DAFM.

“Taking account of the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) processes, and of views of the European Commission during the State Aid process, we are also obliged to put in place a number of additional measures to ensure the protection of habitats and species,” the spokesperson said.

“For example, increased setback distances will be applied to curlew nest sites and no planting within the top eight pearl mussel catchments will be allowed.” In addition “Ireland will expand the curlew buffer zones from 1km to 1.5km,” she said. “Other area species and habitats that must be taken into account include the importance of breeding wader species, merlin, hen harrier and high nature farmland.”

Timeline for implementation

DAFM will be engaging with all stakeholders, starting next week “to outline the changes in the new programme,” the spokesperson said. “ We are also planning training for all registered foresters and farm advisers on the new programme before the end of August,” she explained.

“It is important to note that the final stages of the SEA and AA processes must now take place before the Forestry Programme can be adopted,” she added.

There has been some confusion about the €1.3bn level of funding for the new forestry programme which represents “the best-funded” budget for forestry in the history of the State according to Minister Hackett. The DAFM spokesperson said the allocation has a number of different components including:

DAFM awaits “separate State Aid approval from the Commission in respect of some of these interventions, while others have already been approved,” said the spokesperson.