CLOSE on 60,000 acres of forestry across the country were flattened by Storm Éowyn with a significant percentage of that figure accounted for in the West of Ireland, according to the latest appraisal from the Dept. of Agriculture and forestry reps.

Minister of State at the Dept. of Agriculture, with responsibility for forestry, Michael Healy Rae, said that an initial satellite assessment of storm damaged forests across the Republic of Ireland, put the figure at nearly 24,000 hectares [58,400 acres].

According to the Dept. of Agriculture, it is estimated that approximately 10 million cubic metres of timber has been knocked, predominantly in Sitka Spruce plantations older than 20-years, with Connacht the worst affected area.

Minister Healy-Rae said  that the Forest Windblow Taskforce got off to a very good start in terms of allowing forest owners to get going on timber removal from affected plantations.

“To date we have clarified that existing clear-felling and thinning licences can be used to deal with windblown situations immediately, as well as what needs to be done by forest owners to prioritise their licensing applications where a licence is not already to hand,” said Minister Healy-Rae.

In terms of the damage caused by the storm, Minister Healy-Rae said that there was almost ‘an even split’ between public and private forests.

He added that having more than twice the ‘annual cut’ on the ground due to the storm represented an enormous challenge and would be a very difficult time for forest owners.

“The forest owners can be assured that they are, and will continue to be, at the centre of all of our deliberations at every meeting of the Taskforce,” said the Minister.

Galway IFA Forestry Representative, Pat Lyons, from Woodford, acknowledged that the initial response from Minister Healy-Rea and the Dept. of Agriculture had been ‘very quick and very positive’ in terms of what needed to be done.

“The worst affected areas in the country are West Clare, West Galway, Mayo and an area though Sligo, Cavan-Monaghan and parts of Leitrim.

“We do very much welcome the early movement from the Dept. of Agriculture on the clear-felling and licensing measures that have been put in place,” said Pat Lyons.

He warned however that there was now a danger of the timber market being flooded given the extent of forests that had been knocked and suggested that timber processing, in forests not affected badly by the storm, should be curtailed.

“I would also make a positive suggestion to the Ministers [Martin Heydon and Michael Healy-Rae], and that is to consider some kind of grant scheme to help forest owners to replant trees where their plantations have been knocked.

“Trees have been knocked by Storm Éowyn, 10 to 15 years before coming to their full maturity and I think it would be a very pro-active and common-sense move to provide some form of grant aid for these people to re-establish their plantations,” said Pat Lyons.

He said that as a general rule of thumb, where 50% or more of plantations had been knocked by the storm, the only practical solution for those forest owners would be to remove all of the trees.

■ The initial assessment of forestry damage has been compiled with the aid of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. Coillte are now undertaking a detailed analysis of SkySat satellite imagery to assess the true extent, and forest-by-forest footprint, of wind damage across the country. This will be finalised in April, pending successful acquisition of SkySat imagery.

The latest report on Irish forestry following Storm Éowyn can be found on the DAFM website at the following link: Estimate of the Extent of Damage to Forests following Storms Darragh and Éowyn.

Pictured: Minister Michael Healy-Rae: Nearly 24,000ha of trees knocked by storm.