Forestry Act 2014

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Interpretation

2. In this Act—

“Act of 1946” means the Forestry Act 1946 ;

“Act of 2000” means the Planning and Development Act 2000 ;

“afforestation” means the conversion of land to a forest;

“authorised officer” means a person authorised under this Act to be an authorised officer for the purposes of the relevant statutory provisions;

“carbon sequestration” means the process through which forestry practices remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in vegetation and soil;

“coppice” means a forest crop raised from shoots produced from the cut stumps of the previous crop;

“deforestation” means the conversion of a forest into land that is not a forest;

“environmental impact assessment” has the meaning assigned to it by the Forest Consent Regulations;

“environmental impact statement” means an environmental impact statement (EIS) within the meaning of the Forest Consent Regulations;

“exempted tree” means a tree exempted under section 19 ;

“fell” means cut through the trunk of the tree to such an extent that the tree falls or is rendered liable to fall;

“fixed payment notice” means a notice given under section 24 ;

“forest” means land under trees with—

(a) a minimum area of 0.1 hectare, and

(b) tree crown cover of more than 20 per cent of the total area, or the potential to achieve this cover at maturity,

and includes all species of trees;

“Forest Consent Regulations” means the European Communities (Forest Consent and Assessment) Regulations 2010 (S.I. No. 558 of 2010), as amended by the European Communities (Forest Consent and Assessment) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 ( S.I. No. 442 of 2012 );

“forest reproductive material” means reproductive material of tree species and artificial hybrids that are important for forestry purposes;

“forest road” means a road (other than a public road) that serves a forest;

“forest road works” means the construction of a forest road or works ancillary to such construction (whether or not such construction involves the removal of trees), but not where this consists of the provision of access to a public road;

“grant” means any payment made by the Minister for forestry-related activities, other than a loan;

“Habitats Regulations” means the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 ( S.I. No. 477 of 2011 );

“Minister” means the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine;

“natural regeneration” means the generation of trees from natural seed fall;

“owner”, in relation to trees or a forest, means—

(a) the freehold owner,

(b) the leasehold owner (if any), or

(c) the occupier for the time being,

of the lands concerned and includes Coillte Teoranta;

“planning authority” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Act of 2000;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“public road” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Act of 2000;

“reconstitution” means the restoration of a forest following damage to it;

“reforestation” means restocking by planting, natural regeneration or coppicing of an area from which trees have been felled or otherwise removed;

“relevant statutory provisions” means this Act and regulations made under this Act, including regulations made under section 30 (8);

“remove”, in relation to a tree, includes uprooting the tree or applying a treatment to the tree to kill it;

“replant” means to deliberately restock with trees an area from which trees have been felled, removed or otherwise destroyed, or to restock such other land as may be agreed with the Minister, but does not include restocking by means of natural regeneration;

“replanting order” means an order made by the Minister pursuant to section 26 ;

“thinning” means the removal from a forest in accordance with good forest practice of excess or diseased trees, or trees of poor quality in order to improve the growth, health and value of the remaining trees;

“timber” means the wood produced by a tree, whether or not the tree is standing;

“tree” means a free standing woody perennial plant whose species has the potential to have a more or less definite crown and be capable of reaching a minimum height of 5 metres at maturity and includes a sapling and the species of birch and hazel.