26,050 hectares of forests have suffered wind damage following recent storms Darragh and Éowyn, a satellite survey from the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.
Of this area, 14,500 hectares are in the Coillte estate, with 11,550 hectares comprising private forest areas.
Over 60% of the windblown area has a felling licence, with a further 12% being processed by the Department.
In the aftermath of Storm Éowyn at the end of January, most wind-blown forests still have considerable timber value and will retain that value for some time, especially if the tree is still connected to the roots.
Minister of State with responsibility for Forestry Michael Healy-Rae said "the first task for forest owners affected by windblow is the safe clearance of sites".
"The majority of owners can use their existing clear-fell and thinning licences to do this work. For those who do not have a licence it's advisable that you apply for it now and mark it as 'storm-damage’."
The Department said it will prioritise these applications.
In recent weeks, the use of high-resolution SkySat satellite imagery provided information at a local scale for delineation of forest damage areas.
Some of this information is available to registered foresters through a storm-damage map layer on the Department’s iNET mapping system.
The Government established a Windblow Taskforce after Storm Éowyn, which has met five times.
The taskforce comprises stakeholders such as forest owners, forestry companies, Teagasc, and Coillte, and is leading a co-ordinated response to the storms, with particular emphasis on dealing safely with the large areas of forest that have been blown down.
