Ireland’s third forest inventory is launched
THE main findings of Ireland’s third National Forest Inventory (NFI) have been announced by Minster of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with responsibility for forestry, Andrew Doyle,
The publication was worked on by the Department for three years and records and assesses the extent and nature of Ireland’s forests, both public and private. It provides accurate, up-to-date information about the extent and changing nature of Ireland’s forests.
Speaking about some of the NFI’s findings, Minster Doyle said: ‘Overall we are seeing that the national forest estate is still expanding and has now reached 11 per cent of the total land area, with a wide variety of forest types present. I’m also pleased to note that the share of broadleaf species in the national forest estate now stands at 29 per cent.
‘I expect that the incentives for broadleaf planting in the Mid-term Review of the Forestry Programme will further drive this figure. In terms of wood mobilisation, it is encouraging that the volume of timber felled between 2013-2017 showed an increase of 1.28 million cubic metres over the period 2006-2012.’