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The Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments Booklet of Measures

April 21, 2023 by EPA Catchments Unit | in Blue Dots, News, Plans and Guidance, Science, Stories

This booklet was produced by the IRD Duhallow Blue Dot team to raise awareness of the importance of
measures implemented by the Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments EIP and the Owentaraglin
River EIP project.

The Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments EIP Project is a €1.47 million Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine funded results based Agri-Environmental programme aimed at rewarding farmers for the protection, enhancement and restoration of waterbodies in the Allow River Catchment. The catchment has several high status objectives waterbodies located in the Blackwater River Special Area of Conservation.

The interconnection between farm and environment is becoming increasingly important to farming communities across Ireland and with this comes many changes. Words and phrases such as ‘riparian planting’, ‘nutrient flow pathways’, ‘hedgerows’ and ‘multi-species swards’ are becoming more and more a part of everyday vocabulary.

But what do they actually mean? How do they benefit the environment and different habitats? How can they benefit the farmer?

This booklet, using the lessons learned from IRD Duhallow’s EIP projects, aims to answer these questions and provide farmers with a guide to measures that can be taken to improve water quality and biodiversity on their farms.

Learn more:

An online version is available at: https://irdduhallow.com/site15/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Booklet-of-Measures-Interactive.pdf

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The Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments Booklet of Measures

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EPA Catchments Unit

EPA Catchments Unit

 Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?

Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

LAWCO

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

DECLG

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.