The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued 20 afforestation licences, relating to 132ha of new planting, in the first week of September.
This follows the 70 afforestation licences by the department during the month of August which corresponds 560ha, the highest monthly area to date this year.
According to the latest forestry dashboard, published by the department, 383 afforestation licences have been issued to date this year covering 3,237ha.
Some 458 afforestation licences have been submitted to DAFM to date this year.
Afforestation
The latest data shows that 1,122ha of land has been afforested to date this year.
The figures for afforestation planted in 2024 only reflect afforestation that has been paid at first grant stage this year to date, including under the Native Area Tree Scheme (NTAS).
The Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland (SEEFA) said that the 20 afforestation licences on this week’s dashboard “represents the highest number for some time”.
“This also shows a real level of consistency, as the weekly average of afforestation licences issued over the past four weeks is 17.
“SEEFA welcomes these improvements and encourages the department to build on them to restore confidence in the forestry licencing system,” the association said.
Last week, 34 licences were issued for Coillte felling and 16 were issued for private felling.
The department has issued a total of 718 licences for felling on private plantations and 686 permits for felling on Coillte sites so far this year.
There were 14 licences issued last week for forestry roads, bringing the overall total to 628 licences issued by September 6 covering 238km of roads.
The department said that 50km of forestry roads have been constructed this year.
The latest data shows that 559 licences have been granted this year for the Reconstitution of Ash Dieback Scheme relating to 2,017ha.
There has been 278 licences issued for the NTAS (304ha) and 134 for the Woodland Improvement Scheme (WIS) covering 758ha.
184 approvals have been granted under the Deer Tree Shelter (DTS) scheme corresponding to 808ha.
The department has received 40 afforestation appeals to date this year, along with 18 tree felling and six forest road appeals.