Counties Longford & Roscommon Wetland Study Wetland Surveys Ireland 2017 _______________________________________________________________ Authors: Foss, P.J., Crushell, P. & Gallagher, M.C. (2017) Title: Counties Longford & Roscommon Wetland Study. Report prepared for Lonford and Roscommon County Councils. An Action of the County Longford Draft Heritage Plan 2015-2020 & the County Roscommon Heritage Plan 2012-2016 Copyright Longford & Roscommon County Councils 2017 Wetland Surveys Ireland Dr Peter Foss Dr Patrick Crushell 33 Bancroft Park Bell Height Tallaght Kenmare Dublin 24 Co Kerry [email protected] [email protected] All rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of Longford & Roscommon County Councils. Views contained in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of Longford & Roscommon County Councils. Photographic Plate Credits All photographs by Peter Foss & Patrick Crushell 2017 unless otherwise stated. Copyright Longford & Roscommon County Councils. Report cover images: Derreenasoo Bog, Co. Roscommon (Photo: P. Foss) Counties Longford & Roscommon Wetland Study Wetland Surveys Ireland 2017 ____________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................... 5 1 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 PROJECT AIMS ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2 INTRODUCTION TO WETLANDS ............................................................................................................. 8 2.1 DEFINITION.............................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 IMPORTANCE OF WETLANDS...................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 PROTECTION OF WETLANDS.................................................................................................................... 12 3 WETLANDS IN COUNTIES LONGFORD & ROSCOMMON................................................................... 14 3.1 COUNTY LONGFORD: AN INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 14 3.2 COUNTY ROSCOMMON: AN INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 14 3.2.1 Geology......................................................................................................................................... 20 3.2.2 Sub-soils ....................................................................................................................................... 23 3.3 WETLAND HABITATS IN COUNTIES LONGFORD & ROSCOMMON................................................................. 26 3.4 PROTECTION OF WETLANDS IN LONGFORD & ROSCOMMON ..................................................................... 43 4 LONGFORD & ROSCOMMON WETLAND STUDY 2017 ....................................................................... 46 4.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 46 4.2 MATERIALS & METHODS......................................................................................................................... 47 4.2.1 Longford and Roscommon Wetland Study 2017 - Desktop Study ............................................... 47 4.2.2 Study Constraints and Limitations ................................................................................................ 50 4.3 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................... 51 4.3.1 LFROWS 2017 – Desktop Study.................................................................................................. 51 5 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................. 60 5.1 DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT OF THE LONGFORD AND ROSCOMMON WETLAND RESOURCE ........................... 60 5.2 KNOWLEDGE OF THE LONGFORD AND ROSCOMMON WETLAND RESOURCE ................................................ 60 5.3 WETLAND SURVEY RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................. 61 5.3.1 Further Development of Wetland Inventory.................................................................................. 61 5.3.2 Planning Control ........................................................................................................................... 61 5.3.3 Management of Longford & Roscommon Wetland Sites ............................................................. 62 5.3.4 Enforcement of Fines for Illegal Dumping and Infill...................................................................... 63 5.3.5 Control of Invasive Species in Wetlands ...................................................................................... 63 5.3.6 Water Framework Directive .......................................................................................................... 63 5.3.7 Public Information and Interpretation Measures........................................................................... 64 5.3.8 Wetland Restoration ..................................................................................................................... 64 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY & DATA SOURCES ..................................................................................................... 65 7 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................... 68 1 Counties Longford & Roscommon Wetland Study Wetland Surveys Ireland 2017 ____________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3-1: Topography and drainage map of County Longford. .................................................................... 16 Figure 3-2: Map showing river catchments and surface water features of County Longford.......................... 17 Figure 3-3: Topography and drainage map of County Roscommon. .............................................................. 18 Figure 3-4: Map showing river catchments and surface water features of County Roscommon.................... 19 Figure 3-5: Simplified geological map of County Longford.............................................................................. 21 Figure 3-6: Simplified geological map of County Roscommon........................................................................ 22 Figure 3-7: Sub-soil (parent material) map of County Longford...................................................................... 24 Figure 3-8: Sub-soil (parent material) map of County Roscommon................................................................ 25 Figure 4-1: Flow chart illustrating the various steps undertaken during the course of the Longford and Roscommon Wetland Study (LFROWS) project 2017................................................................ 47 Figure 4-2: Location of identified wetland sites (stored within Site database&GIS) in relation to areas designated for nature conservation in County Longford. ............................................................ 53 Figure 4-3: Location of identified wetland sites (stored within Site database&GIS) in relation to areas designated for nature conservation in County Roscommon....................................................... 54 Figure 4-4: Map showing the extent of wetland sites identified in county Longford during the current study. 55 Figure 4-5: Map showing the extent of wetland sites identified in county Roscommon during the current study............................................................................................................................................ 56 LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1: Examples of the economic benefits that wetlands provide. ........................................................... 12 Table 3-2 The sub-soil types used to identify potential wetlands in Counties Longford and Roscommon..... 23 Table 3-3: Wetland habitat types (Fossitt 2000) recorded as part of the Counties Longford and Roscommon Wetland Study project 2017........................................................................................................ 27 Table 4-4 GIS files produced during the LFROWS 2017. ............................................................................... 49 Table 4-5 Number of wetland sites (main sites and sub-sites) occurring within designated areas................. 58 Table 4-6 Natura 2000 Impacts and Activities recorded on wetland sites as part of the LFROWS