My Department does not set a national allowable harvest and I am aware this was commented on in the report, Forest Products and People, a renewed vision published in 2014.
However, my Department does provide funding to COFORD to provide detailed production forecasts which outlines projected timber harvest volumes each year out to 2040.
This forecast is based on a number of assumptions and takes into account a wide range of factors, including long term sustainability of the harvest. It also assumes areas harvested are replanted and all felling licensed is in accordance with the provisions of the Forestry Act 2014.
My Department is well aware of the importance of sustained yield and that is why we continue to carry out detailed inventories of our National Forest Estate. This month my Department has published its fourth national forest inventory and it provides information on a wide variety of data related to forests, including gross increment.
The balance between gross increment and fellings is an important indicator as it describes the sustainability of wood production over time, the current availability of wood and the potential for the future.
Gross annual volume increment between 2017 and 2022 was 10 million cubic metres per year. The mean annual standing volume felled within this period was 4.1 million cubic metres per year. Less than half (41.3%) of the gross annual increment was felled between 2017 and 2022. This metric indicates that at a national level Ireland is not harvesting more than the increment of the forest.
The repeated NFI cycles have provided results on aspects such as forest area change, volume increment and latest felling volume estimates. This facilitates the assessment of changes in the state of Ireland’s forests over time. The total growing stock volume of Irish forests is estimated to be over 142 million m³, an increase of over 25.5 million m³ since 2017.
Details of Ireland's National Forest Inventory are available to download on my Department's website.
