Vol. 473 No. 4
525 Mr. Hyland asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he has satisfied himself that the principle of sustained yield remains central to the management of the country's national forestry resource; and the supporting statistics, if any, available in this regard. [1106/97]
The principle of sustainable yield, which involves the maintenance of a sustainable balance between timber production and timber harvesting, is the traditional cornerstone of forestry management. Timber harvesting is controlled by felling licence and a normal stipulation is that clearfelled areas must be replanted.
Supporting statistics relating to sustainable yield consist of national or regionalised comparisons of growth increment with licensed felling to establish that annual growth increment exceeds annual harvesting. Such statistics are available in relation to the former State forests, now managed by Coillte Teoranta. Prior to licensing Coillte Teoranta's general felling operations my Department undertakes an analysis of such statistics.
The extension of such comparisons to encompass privately owned forests and the refinement of such comparisons to incorporate wider and changing facets of sustainable forest management is also being examined in my Department. Such comparisons will be available on a national basis upon completion of the national forestry inventory which is being developed at present by my Department.
Annual planting, including reforestation, currently some 28,000 hectares, far outweighs annual felling, currently some 5,000 hectares, so that the net impact is a rapidly growing timber resource.
