15 hectares of forest planted in Louth last year

There have been 15 hectares of forest planted in Louth in 2022 according to the most recent Forest Statistics report published today.

However afforestation numbers in the county continue to remain low with just four other counties (Carlow, Dublin, Monaghan and Waterford) seeing less trees planted in 2022.

Afforestation is the process of establishing a forest, especially on land not previously forested. 

In Louth, no afforestation took place in 2021, two hectares were afforested in 2020 and one hectare afforested in 2019. 

The county with the highest level of afforestation in 2022, was Cork with 400 hectares afforested.

Of the afforestation that took place in Louth last year, all 15 hectares were as a result of private afforestation.

Four hectares consisted of Broadleaf trees while eleven were Coniferous; additionally 12 hectares were planted by farmers while the remaining 3 were planted by non farmers.

The number of individual owners that have afforested in Louth between 1980–2022 is 90, covering 737 hectares in total.

Launching ‘Ireland Forest Statistics 2023’, Minister of State with responsibility for Forestry, Pippa Hackett said:

“This annual report brings together reliable, up to date forestry statistics that are useful both for my Department and for forest stakeholders, as well as being important for Ireland’s international reporting requirements relating to forests and forestry”.

In relation to the findings themselves, the Minister added

“Earlier this year my Department launched the National Forest Inventory for 2022 which details that our forest estate is still expanding at 11.6% of the total land area. In 2022 an additional 2,273 ha of new forests were created. 

“While these new forests planted in 2022 will ultimately form a valuable part of our national forest estate and will play an important role in sequestering carbon, providing timber and creating new habitats, last year’s level of planting is far below where we ultimately need to be.

“I am confident that the new €1.3 billion Forestry Programme will mark a turning point for Irish forestry, and I believe that the Programme will unlock the potential for the sector to get back to planting 8,000ha per annum and more. 

“One of the trends we can see from this report is that in the years that most recently exceeded the 8,000ha target, farmers were planting the vast majority of new forests in Ireland. 

“The supports we have put in place for farmers in the new Forestry Programme, with 20 years of payments at rates increased by between 44% and 66%, will reignite forestry as a real option to be incorporated as part of the farm enterprise, and provide the platform for the forestry sector to work with farmers to plant the full range of forest types on offer in this Programme.”