TheThe CountyCounty MonaghanMonaghan WetlandsWetlands MapMap Desk Survey & GIS Preparation Prepared by Dr Peter Foss & Dr Patrick Crushell, November 2010 A report for Monaghan County Council & The Heritage Council An Action of the Monaghan Heritage Plan2006-2010 The County Monaghan Wetlands Map Desk Survey & GIS Preparation Report prepared for Monaghan County Council & The Heritage Council An Action of the County Monaghan Heritage Plan Prepared on behalf of by Dr Peter J. Foss & Dr Patrick Crushell Wetland Surveys e-mail: [email protected] November 2010 The County Monaghan Wetlands Map Peter Foss & Patrick Crushell 2010 _______________________________________________________________ Authors: Foss, P.J. & Crushell, P. (2010) Title: The County Monaghan Wetlands Map Desk Survey & GIS Preparation, Report prepared for Monaghan County Council and The Heritage Council. An Action of the County Monaghan Heritage Plan Copyright Monaghan County Council & The Heritage Council 2010 Authors: Dr Peter Foss Dr Patrick Crushell 33 Bancroft Park Bell Height Tallaght Kenmare Dublin 24 Co Kerry e-mail: [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 Monaghan County Council. Views contained in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of Monaghan County Council or The Heritage Council. Photographic Plate Credits All photographs by Peter Foss 2010 unless otherwise stated. Copyright Monaghan County Council & The Heritage Council. Report cover images: Cutover bog hollows with transition mire vegetation on the western shore of Drumganny Lough, Co Monaghan. The County Monaghan Wetlands Map Peter Foss & Patrick Crushell 2010 ____________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... 4 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................ 5 3 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 9 3.1 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 9 3.2 MAINS AIMS OF PROJECT ............................................................................................ 9 4 IMPORTANCE OF WETLANDS IN COUNTY MONAGHAN ......................................... 10 4.1 DEFINITION ......................................................................................................... 10 4.2 WHY CONSERVE WETLANDS?...................................................................................... 11 4.3 WETLAND VALUES .................................................................................................. 12 5 WETLANDS IN COUNTY MONAGHAN .................................................................... 14 5.1 COUNTY MONAGHAN AN INTRODUCTION......................................................................... 14 5.2 NATURAL HISTORY OF COUNTY MONAGHAN .................................................................... 14 5.2.1 Topography and landforms ............................................................................. 15 5.2.2 Geology........................................................................................................ 16 5.2.3 Soils ............................................................................................................ 18 5.2.4 Climate ........................................................................................................ 20 5.2.5 Habitat Diversity and Wetlands........................................................................ 20 5.3 WETLAND HABITATS IN COUNTY MONAGHAN – A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ..................................... 22 5.4 PROTECTION OF MONAGHAN WETLANDS ........................................................................ 42 5.5 MWM WETLAND TYPES............................................................................................ 43 6 COMPILATION OF THE COUNTY MONAGHAN WETLANDS MAP GIS AND SITE DATABASE ................................................................................................................ 45 6.1 BACKGROUND AND PROJECT SET-UP ............................................................................. 45 6.2 MATERIALS & METHODS........................................................................................... 46 6.2.1 Data acquisition............................................................................................. 46 6.2.2 MWM Site identification and background research.............................................. 47 6.2.3 GIS Data compilation and GIS wetland identification .......................................... 47 6.2.4 Data Transfer and Mapping of MWM Database sites............................................ 48 6.2.5 Data Analysis and presentation of results (GIS and MWM site database)............... 48 6.2.6 MWM Site Database – structure and content ..................................................... 51 7 RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 52 7.1 MWM DATA LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................ 52 7.1.1 Wetland site identification............................................................................... 52 7.1.2 Wetland habitat type classification ................................................................... 52 7.1.3 Estimation of the extent of wetland habitats on sites identified ............................ 52 7.1.4 Time constraints............................................................................................ 52 7.2 MWM SITE DATABASE ............................................................................................ 53 7.3 MWM GIS DATABASE ............................................................................................ 53 7.4 DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT OF WETLANDS IN COUNTY MONAGHAN ......................................... 54 7.5 WETLAND SITE CONSERVATION EVALUATION.................................................................... 66 7.6 DAMAGE TO COUNTY MONAGHAN WETLANDS ................................................................... 69 8 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 72 8.1 DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT OF THE MONAGHAN WETLAND RESOURCE ...................................... 72 8.2 KNOWLEDGE OF THE MONAGHAN WETLAND RESOURCE ........................................................ 72 8.3 MONAGHAN WETLAND MAP RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................... 75 9 MWM BIBLIOGRAPHY & DATA SOURCES .............................................................. 76 10 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................... 80 1 The County Monaghan Wetlands Map Peter Foss & Patrick Crushell 2010 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Report Tables & Figures Page List of Tables Number Table 4.1. Examples of the economic benefits that wetland provide. 13 Table 5.1. The 32 level three Fossitt (2000) wetland habitat types being recorded as part of the 44 County Monaghan Wetlands Map project 2010. Table 6.1. Survey method codes assigned to habitat polygons recorded during MWM 2010. 48 Table 6.2. Habitat mapping considerations from the County Monaghan Wetlands Map project 50 2010. Table 7.1. Final GIS output files from the MWM project. 53 Table 7.2. The number of discrete sites in MWM site database and polygons in the MWM GIS 65 containing the Fossitt wetland recorded in County Monaghan. Table 7.3: The number of discrete wetland sites (and sites and sub-sites) recorded in the MWM 67 Site database with their conservation designation and protection. Table 7.4: Natura 2000 Impacts and Activities recorded on wetland sites as part of the MWM 70 which are likely to have a negative effect on wetlands, and the wetland type most likely to be affected by these activities. Table 7.5: The number of sites where Natura 2000 Impacts and Activities were recorded on 71 wetland sites as part of the MWM. In total Impacts and Activities were recorded on 238 sites in the MWM site database. Table 8.1: Assessment of survey priority for County Monaghan wetland habitats recorded 74 during the County Monaghan Wetlands Map 2010. List of Figures Figure 5.1. Relief map of county Monaghan showing elevation in meters above Ordnance 16 Datum. Figure 5.2. The solid geology of county Monaghan showing the main rock types occurring in the 17 county. Figure 5.3. Sub-soil (parent material) map of county Monaghan. 19 Figure 5.3. The River Basin Map of county Monaghan. 21 Figure 6.1. Flow chart illustrating the various steps undertaken during the course of the 46 Monaghan Wetlands Map project 2010. Figure 7.1: Location of wetland sites throughout Monaghan, and labelled according to MWM site 57 database code recorded during the County Monaghan Wetlands Map 2010. Figure 7.2. The location and extent of wetland boundary areas, and unmapped areas (without 58 a boundary) represented as point sources, in County Monaghan based on the County Monaghan Wetlands Map 2010. Figure 7.3. Example of final MWM GIS