Earls Island Galway
Tel 353 91 563118/9
29th March 2010.
Forest Service,
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
Johnstown Castle Estate,
Wexford
Dear Sir/Madam,
Submission on Forestry Review.
In the context of the review of the remit of the forest sector with particular reference to Public Goods- climate change mitigation, recreation and protection of the environment, biodiversity, landscape, water resources and heritage, it is submitted that potential synergies exist in relation to the following issues; (a) Management of angling waters located within Coillte Forests (b) Riparian zone management. (c) Water quality issues and the need to update and publish guidelines for cable extraction.
The Fisheries Service is undergoing restructuring at present, the thrust of which will be establish a single entity to be known as Inland Fisheries Ireland (I.F.I) with responsibilty for finance, marketing, field services, research and human resources. The review group should examine the potential for the transfer of fisheries to I.F.I or for the establishment of a joint special purpose entity for the management of waters within Coillte Forests, be they game fisheries or coarse angling lakes.
In the past, in some instances, valuable fishing rights have been sold by Coillte without consultation with the Fisheries Service to private sector interests with the result that new owners have not been able to exercise control and this has resulted in a free for all, a most unsatisfactory situation.
The water quality issues specific to forestry have been documented in reports commissioned by the WFD Forest and Water Group and these include issues in relation to sedimentation, acidification hydrology and eutrophication. There are also legacy issues relating to forests on peat bogs that are now being harvested and this issue has to be tackled with environmental sensitively. Also, the guidelines in relation to the use of cable extraction are inadequate and require updating.
With regard to riparian zone management, many of the low land rivers in the western region, particularly those that have been the subject of arterial drainage would benefit from riparian zone tree planting in order to ameliorate the visual impact of dredge spoil, modulate water temperatures and be of general benefit ecologically. The take up of the Native Woodland Scheme (N.W.S) and the F.E.P.S schemes has rather slow and applications seem patchy and dispersed with the result that environmental benefits are slow to materialise, particularly from a water management perspective. The scope for re-alignment of these programmes with those of the Fisheries Service and the Water Framework Directive (W.F.D) should be examined.
Improved structures aimed at supporting local catchment management projects for the sourcing and planting of oak seedlings for riparian zone planting should be encouraged.
Yours sincerely,
Gregory Forde
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Greg Forde,
Chief Executive Officer