All non-urban local authorities should be required to prepare forestry strategies and compile countrywide habitat surveys and biodiversity plans, a major new report has recommended.
The joint Coford/EPA report, Biodiversity in Irish Plantation Forests, makes 57 recommendations including a call for the establishment of a biological records centre.
The Bioforest project, one of the largest undertakings on biodiversity research conducted here, concluded that, in general, forestry plantations could make a significant contribution to biodiversity if properly planned, but could have a negative effect if not.
The project, which involved more than 20 researchers based in Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and Coillte, found that each local authority should establish ecological advisory units.
One of the most far-reaching recommendations in the report was that semi-natural habitats should not be afforested unless there were mitigating circumstances. Where possible, improved grassland or arable land should be used for afforestation instead of semi-natural habitat, particularly in landscapes dominated by intensive farming.
"Priority habitats listed in the EU habitats directive should not be afforested, regardless of whether they are part of a designated site or how common they are in the surrounding landscape," it said.
The report also recommended that the Forestry Service should employ ecologists with the number being increased from the present one to adequately cope with the workload.
It said that in the past, local authorities had not had in-house technical expertise available to comment on conservation issues pertaining to grant applications.
However, the appointment of heritage officers had begun to remedy this deficiency and the establishment of ecology units would rectify this situation.
In the section dealing with the hen harrier bird, the report recommended that afforestation and agricultural improvements should be regulated in areas where the bird is found to minimise further decreases in the carrying capacity for the species.
"Wherever possible, afforestation in these areas should target improved agricultural land rather than areas of bog and rough pasture, which are used by hen harriers for foraging," said the report.
It said more information was needed on the habitat requirements of the bird especially in relation to second rotation forests.
To improve the understanding of hen harrier habitat requirements, a combined satellite or radio tracking study of foraging adults should be carried out.
This study would also include a monitoring of the fledging success of hen harrier nests in different habitat configurations.
The publication of the report was welcomed by Minister of State for Agriculture Mary Wallace, who has responsibility for forestry.