Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2020
813. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the person or body that decided ring barking is a good forestry practice (details supplied); the planned number of acres of forest for ring barking in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14785/20]
View answerRing-barking has been applied on a trial basis in selected conifer stands as part of the EU co-funded KerryLIFE Project, a demonstration project to restore the endangered freshwater pearl mussel (FPM) within two catchments in Co. Kerry.
Under this project, ring-barking is applied to young conifer stems to create open space around existing birch trees, thereby enabling the natural regeneration of the birch. The application is repeated over a number of years until eventually the ‘halos’ of emerging birch merge, thereby resulting in the ecologically-sensitive transformation of the conifer stand into native woodland. Ring-barking is also described in the draft Plan for Forests and Freshwater Pearl Mussel (FPM) in Ireland, released by the Department in mid-2018, as a prescription for the gradual elimination of individual and small groups of trees, in areas where their sudden removal by felling would be harmful to FPM.
Ring-barking would not be considered as normal forest practice and would only be acceptable in very limited circumstances, such as those described above.
A tree felling licence is required where a tree is to be felled or caused to fall (regardless of the methods used) and must be granted before any management operation takes place.
