CCOuntyOunty KKeRRyeRRy IInvAsIvenvAsIve ssPeCIesPeCIes ssuRveyuRvey 20112011 PILOt MAPPIng study OF tHe RIveR Lee CAtCHMent, ttRALee Report for Kerry County Council Prepared by: Patrick Crushell, Peter Foss, Caroline Hurley & Barry O’Loughlin October 2011 An Action of the County Kerry Heritage Plan County Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 Crushell, Foss, Hurley & O’Loughlin _______________________________________________________________ This report should be referenced: Crushell, P., Foss, P., Hurley, C. & O’Loughlin, B. (2011). County Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 - Pilot Mapping Study of the River Lee Catchment, Tralee. Report prepared for Kerry County Council and The Heritage Council. An Action of the County Kerry Heritage Plan Copyright Kerry County Council & The Heritage Council 2011 Wetland Surveys Ireland Authors: Dr Patrick Crushell Dr Peter Foss Bell Height 33 Bancroft Park Kenmare Tallaght Co Kerry Dublin 24 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 Kerry County Council. Views contained in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of Kerry County Council. Views contained in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of Kerry County Council or The Heritage Council. Includes Ordnance Survey Ireland data reproduced under OSI Licence number 2011/ 08/ CCMA/ Kerry County Council. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Ordnance Survey Ireland and Government of Ireland copyright. © Ordnance Survey Ireland, 2011. Photographic Plate Credits All photographs by Patrick Crushell & Peter Foss 2011 unless otherwise stated. Copyright Kerry County Council & The Heritage Council. Report cover photograph: Left: Flowering Himalayan Balsam. Right top: Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed riverbank infestation in Trelee town. Right bottom: Giant Rhubarb near Ballyseedy Wood visitor car park. Photographs Copyright: Peter Foss. County Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 Crushell, Foss, Hurley & O‟Loughlin _______________________________________________________________ Contents Page 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES ....................................................................................................... 1 1.3 IMPACTS OF INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES .................................................................................... 2 1.4 CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE SPECIES ................................................................ 2 1.5 STUDY AREA ......................................................................................................................... 3 2 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 DESKTOP REVIEW ................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 FIELD SURVEY ....................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Survey approach and site selection ............................................................................. 6 2.2.2 Survey methodology .................................................................................................... 8 2.3 DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 9 2.3.1 KISS Record Database ................................................................................................ 9 2.3.2 KISS GIS dataset....................................................................................................... 10 2.3.3 KISS Photographic Record ........................................................................................ 11 3 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................. 13 3.1 INDIVIDUAL SPECIES REPORTS ............................................................................................. 16 3.1.1 Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) .................................................................... 16 3.1.2 Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) ............................................................... 19 3.1.3 Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria) ............................................................................. 22 3.1.4 Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum) ................................................................. 24 3.1.5 Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) .......................................................... 26 3.1.6 Other alien species .................................................................................................... 28 3.2 HABITATS THAT OCCUR THROUGHOUT RIVER LEE CATCHMENT .............................................. 29 4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................... 33 4.1 INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE LEE CATCHMENT .................................. 33 4.2 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND AWARENESS .............................................................................. 34 4.3 KERRY COUNTY COUNCIL .................................................................................................... 35 4.4 FURTHER COUNTY-WIDE SURVEYS ....................................................................................... 35 4.5 REVIEW OF SURVEY METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 35 5 REFERENCES...................................................................................................................... 36 6 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... 39 County Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 Crushell, Foss, Hurley & O‟Loughlin _______________________________________________________________ List of Tables Table 1.1: Designated sites within the River Lee Catchment, County Kerry. .................................................... 4 Table 2.1: Labels of each data field stored in the KISS Record database. ....................................................... 9 Table 2.2: Labels of each attribute in the point dataset of GIS with corresponding field name as in the KISS record database. ............................................................................................................................ 11 Table 3.1: Summary results on the occurrence of invasive species recorded during the KISS 2011. ........... 15 Table 3.2: Summary results on the occurrence of Japanese Knotweed recorded during the KISS 2011. ..... 18 Table 3.3: Summary results on the occurrence of Himalayan Balsam recorded during the KISS 2011. ........ 21 Table 3.4: Area of different habitat types (m2) that occur within a 50 m radius of KISS 2011 records .......... 30 List of Figures Figure 1.1: Map showing the extent of the River Lee (Kerry) catchment, its main watercourse and smaller tributaries ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 2.1: Map showing the extent of the River Lee (Kerry) catchment and its main watercourses ............... 7 Figure 3.1: Map showing the distribution of all invasive species records as documented during the Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 ...................................................................................................... 13 Figure 3.2: Number of records per individual species recorded during the course of the KISS 2011 ............ 14 Figure 3.3: Extent and distribution of Japanese Knotweed throughout the River Lee (Kerry) Catchment as recorded during the Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 ............................................................ 17 Figure 3.4: Extent and distribution of Himalayan Balsam throughout the River Lee (Kerry) Catchment as recorded during the Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 ............................................................ 20 Figure 3.5: Extent and distribution of Giant Rhubarb throughout the River Lee (Kerry) Catchment as recorded during the Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011. ........................................................................... 23 Figure 3.6: Extent and distribution of Rhododendron ponticum throughout the River Lee (Kerry) Catchment as recorded during the Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011........................................................ 25 Figure 3.7: Distribution of Giant Hogweed throughout the River Lee (Kerry) Catchment as recorded during the Kerry Invasive Species Survey 2011 ....................................................................................... 27 Figure 3.8: Distribution of incidental records of other alien species documented during the KISS 2011 ....... 29 Figure 3.9a: Habitat map surrounding KISS 2011 records in the along the tidal section of the River Lee to the South of Tralee town centre. ......................................................................................................... 31 Figure 3.9b: Habitat