Ireland's forest and tree cover higher than expected

Readers will remember our ‘Land Use’ report (2 June 2023), which assessed the Tailte Eireann (TE) – formerly Ordinance Survey Ireland – land use map of Ireland.

Many were surprised that Ireland’s forest cover was higher compared with other surveys, while “grass cover was much lower than previously reported”, as outlined by Lorcan Roche Kelly.

So where does forestry fit into the land cover equation?

This prompted us to reassess results from TE and compare them with Ireland’s National Forest Inventory (NFI), which is produced at five-year intervals by foresters in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The increase in afforestation and corresponding decreases in agriculture is significant when compared with the European Agency’s CORINE data.

But the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) inventory, initiated in 1985 – with updates in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018 – was always questionable “due to its low spatial resolution of 25ha and its classification system, designed on continental European land cover”, according to the TE authors.

This did “not give sufficient detail on grasslands, peatlands and other important land cover types of Ireland”, they maintain.

Tree cover

TE breaks forest cover down into four categories and non-forest tree cover into three categories, which in some instances are different from NFI categories (Table 1).

For example TE introduces the term “transitional forest”, which is a parcel of coniferous and mixed plantations where trees have a maximum height of less than 8m.

Treelines are described as “linear lengths of mature trees, typically found along field or property boundaries, which have a mean height greater than 5m and a cross-sectional width at the canopy of less than 12m”.

NFI data is much more detailed, as it includes species type, age classification, forest health, thin status and forest ownership. However, comparisons between TE and NFI data make for interesting reading when forest cover and non-forest tree cover are assessed.

TE identifies forest cover as 862,479ha in its 2018 land report, compared with 808,850ha recorded by the NFI (2022) – which is a 53,629ha differential.

The percentage difference is greater when non-forest tree cover (treelines, hedgerows and scrub) areas are compared. TE records 428,278ha compared with NFI’s total of 342,280ha.

Total tree cover area – forest and non-forest – is 1,111,300ha or 16.5% of the land area, according to the NFI compared with TE’s total of 1,290,757ha or 18.27%.

It should be noted that NFI percentages are based on total land area of 6,976,112ha, while TE total land area for Ireland is not stated but based on percentages, provided it averages at 7,064,100ha. If NFI land cover is used, TE’s total tree cover is 18.5%.

Either way, TE maintains Ireland has 179,457ha of forests and other tree cover greater than the NFI total. This is an area larger than Co Monaghan or similar in size to Co Carlow and most of south Co Wicklow combined.

Grassland and forestry

Perhaps if we all had been paying closer attention to NFI reports instead of CORINE’s, we wouldn’t be surprised at the lower-than-expected area for grassland.

While the NFI is designed to provide data on forest and other tree cover, it also provides extremely valuable information on 18 land uses.

For example, it identifies the area of grassland as 3,617,993ha, not including 112,588ha of urban and rural green spaces.

This is close to the TE total of 3,681,220ha of grassland, excluding 128,564ha of “amenity grassland” used for sport, recreation or other non-agricultural activities, which corresponds with the NFI green space category.

Unlike the NFI, the TE report categorises grassland types. Most future afforestation will take place in low-intensity grassland amounting to 747,990ha or 10.6% of the land area, according to TE.

If 5% of improved grassland was planted (field corners, inaccessible areas, etc) amounting to 147,000ha, then a further 315,000ha would be needed to achieve 18% forest cover, which is the area identified by COFORD and Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2019.

This would require planting 42% of the 747,990ha of low intensity wet and dry grassland based on NFI data; while 36% would be required for planting based on TE data.

It would be a worthwhile exercise for DAFM and TE to align forest and woodland categories when preparing future surveys. The NFI is the bedrock of forest planning, so it is important that the DAFM and TE discuss why both sets of data differ in their forest and tree cover areas.

The Irish Forest Owners (IFO) has been ratified as a member of the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF). “This provides IFO with a voice in Brussels, where it has been poorly represented for some time,” said Olive Leavy, secretary, IFO.

Derek McCabe, chair of the IFO North East Group, made the case recently to the CEPF General Assembly in Finland for membership, which has been accepted.

“CEPF is the voice of forest owners in Europe and promotes the values of sustainable forest management, private property ownership and the economic viability of the forest sector,” he said.

CEPF has five full-time staff based in Brussels and represents national forest owner organisations from 22 countries within and outside the EU, as well as three associated members, representing forest owners from specific regions or regional forest cooperative organisations.

“This is a very important step forward for IFO in terms of representation at European-level, where the decisions affecting Irish forestry are ultimately made,” said Nicholas Sweetman, IFO chair.

“In total, CEPF represents the interests of nearly 16 million forest owners: private individuals, families and cooperatives, who take care of approximately 60% of the European forest area,” he added.

“Membership in CEPF gives us access to a wealth of information and experience from all across Europe. We look forward to being active members and developing collaborations with our European counterparts.”