Results

Table3.5a: Forest Ownership

Table 3.5b: Forest under management plans (a subset from the FORSEE survey of forest owners when asked if they had a forest management plan for their woodland).

(n = 35)

Remarks

The state forestry (Coillte Teo) accounts for 59% of forest ownership in the pilot zone. They have FSC (Forest stewardship council) certification and it can be therefore assumed that their forests are under management plans. The private sector accounts for 32% of forest ownership. In a subset survey of forests under management plans from the FORSEE survey completed on the forest owners it was found that only 9% of the forest owners had a forest management plan. There is a standardised forest management plan as part of the afforestation grant scheme which must be submitted for all sites greater than 10 hectares (>5 ha for all broadleaf sites) in order to receive the second installment of the afforestation grant. A template of this plan is in the forestry schemes manual (Anon, 2003). Of the 9% (or 3 forest owners) who had a forest management plan only one of these was independently sourced by the forest owner. The other two forest owners management plans were the Forest Service template in order to comply with the afforestation grant scheme. Duchas owned forests (Heritage Council) account for 3% of forest cover in the pilot zone and its forests are managed to develop and maintain the highest standards of conservation management and education, while facilitating sustainable recreational use (i.e. they are not exploited for commercial timber).