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Environmental Implications of Land Reclamation in the Burren, Co. Clare: a preliminary analysis
Abstract
Between 1981–1991, 4% of the Burren area (1371ha) was reclaimed under the Programme for Western Development. Most of the reclamation was intensive and the land is being used to produce silage. Although more efficient and intensive agriculture is now possible, there has been a corresponding loss of environmental variety as scrub, semi-natural grassland, limestone pavement and ancient field boundaries have been replaced by uniform grassland fields. The great increase in fertiliser and silage usage may pose a threat to groundwater quality in the area.
... The Burren region of County Clare in western Ireland is of considerable interest due to its unique ecological, archaeological, and climatological setting (Drew and Magee 1994). Although the region covers less than one percent of the land surface of Ireland, more than half of the country's native species of flora are found there (Drew 1994). ...
... The Burren region of County Clare in western Ireland is of considerable interest due to its unique ecological, archaeological, and climatological setting (Drew and Magee 1994). Although the region covers less than one percent of the land surface of Ireland, more than half of the country's native species of flora are found there (Drew 1994). Geology is dominated by Lower Carboniferous limestone deposited in shallow equatorial seas (Moles and Moles 2002). ...
We present a study of the spatial distribution of δ18O and δD values of lake and river waters from 144 locations in Ireland. Before we can gain a better understanding of paleoclimate records derived from lacustrine carbonate minerals we must understand mechanisms that produce variation in isotope values of modern surface waters. The focus of this study is to provide insight into the behavior of lakes and rivers in Ireland, including source, recycling and loss through evapotranspiration. The short duration of sampling in this project provides a snapshot of modern isotope variability to be applied towards long-term climate change in Ireland and provides a basis of comparison for other proxy records.
... The application of fertiliser in karstic regions is problematic, and this, as well as the proliferation of silage clamps and the concentrating of cattle around winter feed, has already been the subject of research (Drew and Magee 1994;Drew 1996). Restrictions on these are imposed in the high Burren (under REPS) as such activities potentially contaminate ground water (Bohnsack and Carrucan 1999). ...
Two turloughs on the east Burren limestones in County Galway were the subject of a study of current and recent management practices. Farmers with animals on each turlough were interviewed about stock type, stocking density, time of stocking and fertiliser application. Cattle were and still are the dominant stock, but average densities have increased by over 60% over 40 years. One turlough (Caherglassaun) has a history of fertiliser use, and stocking levels are more intense. There was no standard grazing time or stocking density for either turlough. Farmers often operated quite different regimes for the same turlough. The maximum length of any regime was almost seven months, the period without flooding. These results are discussed in relation to the designation of many turloughs as Candidate Special Areas of Conservation (CSACs). Flexibility in devising management plans for the turloughs is recommended.
... Considered one of Europe's finest examples of a karst landscape, the Burren contains over 30,000 ha of limestone pavement as well as an impressive array of other karst features including cave systems, dolines, poljes and microsolutional 'karren' features. Mined historically for calcite, phosphate and fluorspar, and more recently subjected to damage from agricultural land improvement and construction (Drew and Magee, 1994), the geological heritage of the Burren nonetheless remains impressively intact. While much of the limestone is exposed or partially covered with thin, free-draining rendzina soils which are unsuited to tillage, areas of brown earth are scattered throughout and more intensive production systems prevail thereon (Finch, 1971). ...
... Lough Inchiquin is located in the Burren of County Clare, an area unique in its climatological, ecological, and archaeological significance to Ireland (Drew and Magee, 1994). Bedrock is dominated by Lower Carboniferous (Visean) limestone (Moles and Moles, 2002). ...
A 7.6-m core recovered from Lough Inchiquin, western Ireland provides evidence for rapid and long-term climate change from the Late Glacial period to the Mid-Holocene. We determined percentage of carbonate, total organic matter, mineralogy, and δ18Ocalcite values to provide the first high-resolution record of climate variability for this period in Ireland. Following deglaciation, rapid climate amelioration preceded large increases in GISP2 δ18Oice values by ∼2300 yr. The Oldest Dryas (15,100 to 14,500 cal yr B.P.) Late Glacial event is documented in this record as a decrease in δ18Ocalcite values. Brief warming at ∼12,700 cal yr B.P. was followed by characteristic Younger Dryas cold and dry climate conditions. A rapid increase in δ18Ocalcite values at ∼10,500 cal yr B.P. marked the onset of Boreal warming in western Ireland. The 8200 cal yr B.P. event is represented by a brief cooling in our record. Prior to general warming, a larger and previously undescribed climate anomaly between 7300 and 6700 cal yr B.P. is characterized by low δ18Ocalcite values with high-frequency variability.
This chapter provides a review of the impacts of agriculture on karst terranes, and on management approaches to minimize such impacts. It discusses the range of agricultural activities with potential impacts on soil and water in karst regions, including deforestation, changes in grazing intensity and changes from pasture to tillage, application of fertilizers, and pesticides and storage of farm wastes. Case studies of impacts on soil and on water quantity and quality are presented, with a particular focus on water quality issues including suspended sediment, nitrate, phosphorus, pesticides, and microbial pathogens. The particular vulnerability of karst regions to such impacts is discussed, including the occurrence of point recharge in closed depressions and swallow holes, the thin, patchy soil cover found in many karst areas, the presence of epikarst and the occurrence of conduit flow within karst aquifers. Methods of risk evaluation are reviewed briefly and management strategies to minimize impacts of agriculture are discussed, including the use of Best Management Practices, community-based agri-environmental initiatives, and various legislative controls.
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This study addresses the classification of grassland and heath communities found within the Burren uplands of Co. Clare and identifies threats to their integrity. Quadrats were taken on a range of sites, focusing on semi-natural, upland grassland and heath of conservation interest. Before analysis, the data set was divided into a heath group and a grassland group based on cover of dwarf shrubs. The data were analysed using TWINSPAN and canonical correspondence analysis. Within the grassland group, two main associations were found: the Sesleria caerulea–Breutelia chrysocoma association of lownutrient, calcareous, species-rich grasslands, and the Dactylis glomerata–Holcus lanatus association of more-mesotrophic grasslands. Within each group three sub-associations were identified. The heaths also fell into two main groups: one dominated by Dryas octopetala, and the other by Calluna vulgaris. The Dryas heath association formed three sub-associations, while the Calluna heaths formed three distinct associations, including associations of rare alpine heaths with Empetrum nigrum and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. From direct ordination, significant environmental and management factors, such as altitude, soil depth and grazing pressure, were identified. Trends within the data set suggest a gradual increase in agriculturally favoured species with increased summer grazing. Abandoned and less-grazed areas are threatened by scrub and bracken encroachment.
Issues relating to community participation in landscape management, as well as the manipulation of the community for political ends, are addressed. It is argued that the current fashionable participatory model of development and policy formulation requires closer scrutiny and may be unrealistic in certain contexts. A case-study approach is adopted, whereby the role of the community in attempts to construct a visitor interpretative centre at the foot of Mullaghmore Mountain, within the Burren National Park, Ireland, is analysed. The complexity of the term community is exposed, and important questions about who speaks for the community are raised. It is concluded that local development, including ecosystem and landscape management, is best approached neither from a ‘top-down’ nor a ‘bottom-up’ developmental model. It is suggested that insights from adaptive co-management models, which promote a multi-level management approach, whereby local knowledge and experience are incorporated within enabling local and extra-local institutional structures, may provide a viable alternative. Finally, it is argued that human–environmental interaction in a specific place, including the management of common pool resources, needs to be situated within the historical, ecological and cultural narrative of its human ecology.
The Burren plateau of County Clare is a classic example of a plateau karst characterised by patchy, thin soils, a lack of defined surface drainage, and in the instance of the Burren, a rich floristic, archaeological and landscape heritage.
Since accession to the European Union and, in particular, as a result of Common Agricultural Policy initiatives, attempts have been made to raise farm incomes and to modernise agriculture in areas such as the Burren.
Due to the encouragement of land reclamation and silage production has largely replaced hay farming for winter fodder. These changes pose a threat to groundwater quality by enhancing the leaching of artificial fertilizers or of organic pollutants.
The Burren is highly vulnerable to water pollution from silage effluent because of its thin or absent soils and its highly karstified aquifers.
A full survey of silage clamps was made in the summers of 1991 and 1992. For each site data were collected to derive the following: mass of silage, effluent produced, hazard rating of site to groundwater, likely discharge of effluent to groundwater and groundwater dilution index. About 60% of clamps were considered to be high risk and 23% medium risk. About 92% of all sites probably allow some effluent to infiltrate groundwater.
Environmental impacts on karst settings are common as they are more sensitive than those of other rock terrains. Regulatory
procedures that are effective in other rock terrains are not necessarily applicable to karst settings. Development and exploitation
by man that affect the karst hydrology regime can trigger catastrophic events and result in numerous legal actions where the
effects of changes go beyond property boundaries. A great variety of regulations and examples of litigation exist for karst
areas.
This paper examines the entwined nature–culture relationship within the context of the Burren. The Burren, situated on the west coast of Ireland, is a high value landscape in terms of both its natural and cultural diversity. It is also a deeply humanised landscape, with archaeological evidence of human settlement going back over 6000 years. Consequently, the landscape and ‘nature’ that we are attempting to conserve in the Burren today, is as much a product of the hand of its agrarian ‘craftsmen and women’, as it is due to a combination of environmental factors. In recent years changes in farming systems, along with depopulation, have had an important impact on the Burren’s landscape, ecology and society. After exposing the temporality of the landscape, the paper addresses issues of contemporary landscape protection and management practices on the ground.
The Burren is a plateau karst on the west coast of Ireland. It is characterized by thin soils, patchy vegetation and large areas of bare rock, supposedly a legacy of glacial erosion. Archeological and palynological evidence suggest that the area was well populated and forested in prehistoric times, though now it is a marginal area agriculturally. Investigation of paleosols and of karren forms on ancient structures support the idea of an extensive cover of mineral soil, removed by forest clearance initiated erosion over a relatively short period of time.
Within the Burren National Park, trampling by cattle and goats has created a network of paths. Between 1986 and 1992. surveillance of three selected paths revealed a pattern of increasing damage to vegetation and soil cover. An attempt was made to quantify the extent of trampling damage, and to examine possible causes of observed spatial variation in the severity of damage. Some implications for management policy within the National Park are explored.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 was passed to provide strengthened legal protection for threatened wildlife and environmental features in Britain. Limestone pavements were included specifically in section 34 of this act because their unique features were being damaged or destroyed through various causes. Limestone Pavement Orders (LPOs) are made under this act. This review considers why this protection became necessary, how the legislation is being implemented, what problems have arisen during implementation, and what progress has been made in making LPOs. Enforcement of the law, monitoring of sites after LPOs have been made, and management of pavement sites are discussed with reference to limestone pavements in NW England. Effectiveness of the legislation is difficult to assess because legal processes are incomplete, but there are indications that it is being effective in Britain. However, commercial threats to these landforms may simply have been shifted to Eire. The British experience with legal protection of these fragile karst features may aid conservationists in other nations.
Limestones have been worked for many thousands of years — initially for building stone and agricultural lime and more recently for a wide range of construction and industrial uses. In most industrialized countries limestone quarries represent the most visually obvious and, in both process and landform terms, the most dramatic anthropogenic impact on karst terrain. However, quarrying has, to date, received surprisingly little attention from karst scientists. Research in the English Peak District suggested that the postexcavation evolution of quarried limestone rock faces was in part a result of the methods used in their excavation, and this led to the development of a technique designed to reduce the visual and environmental impacts of modern quarries by Landform replication. This involves the use of controlled restoration blasting techniques on quarried rock slopes to construct a landform sequence similar to that in the surrounding natural landscape. The constructed landforms are then partially revegetated using appropriate wildflower, grass, and/or tree species.
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