COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
MOTION NO. 2
MOTION: Councillor Peter Kavanagh
Cathaoirleach's Business
"That this area Committee calls on the Chief Executive to outline what actions South Dublin County Council have undertaken based on the findings and principles of the Dublin Tree Canopy Study specifically to increase canopy on South Dublin County Council's owned lands, and to report on South Dublin County Council's policy regarding Native Woodland establishment and the reason that natural native Woodlands seem to be omitted from the Tree Management document."
REPORT:
The Council's Climate Change Action Plan contains a number of intended actions under the Nature Based Solutions section which will help to increase tree canopy cover in the County into the future. These include the following actions -
- To develop an urban woodland management strategy and action plan, and
- To increase tree canopy cover in the County through annual planting and maintenance.
The Public Realm Section currently plants in the region of 1,500 trees in on-street and open space locations with a budget of approximately €150,000 provided annually for this work. The planting proposed in the motion is intended to be additional to that planned tree planting programme, details of which are due to be presented to the Council's area committees in October and November. South Dublin County Council has adopted a tree management policy that seeks to manage existing trees appropriately and reduce the amount of trees being removed from public open space for non-essential reasons. The council manages a large quantity of public trees within the streetscape; which presents its own challenges, so the management and retention of these trees is also an important facet in the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan. Tree and hedgerow protection and retention is arguably as important as new tree planting, as it serves to retain a mature tree canopy that already supports an established ecosystem and existing ecological corridors.
All proposed schemes are examined for opportunities for new tree planting. For example - 500 trees were planted as part of the Ogham Tree trail in Dodder valley. 367 trees were planted as part of Phase 1 of the upgrading of N81.
The conversion of any open space area to woodland has to be carefully assessed and managed to ensure unintended consequences do not result. Quite a number of SDCC’s parks and open spaces contain species-diverse meadowlands that are important from a biodiversity point of view and support species that do not thrive in a woodland setting; such as protected flora and fauna species, ground nesting birds etc.
SDCC have examined Coillte’s recent announcement regarding Coillte Nature. SDCC intend, through its partnership with Coillte and other partners in the Dublin Mountains Partnership, to engage with Coillte on this initiative. Coillte Nature have announced they will target the delivery of new woodlands facilitating species diversity, biodiversity and carbon sequestration as part of the Government’s National Forestry Programme. The establishment of Coillte Nature will also see the conversion of certain commercial Coillte forests to recreational forests, notably in the Dublin Mountains. South Dublin County Council will engage with Coillte in the development of their programme to examine if co-ordinated and complementary actions within South Dublin County Council owned lands can complement and enhance their proposed actions regarding the transition to broadleaf, mainly native woodlands.