Report Cover Vol I - Clare County Library

The County Clare Wetlands Survey Patrick Crushell & Peter Foss 2008
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7.5 Wetland site conservation evaluation
As discussed in section 5.4 above, many wetland sites in Clare are offered some degree of legislative
protection under a variety of national and international site conservation designation schemes.
Within the CWS site database information on conservation designations or status of sites was recorded in
relation to the following conservation categories:
NHA - Natural Heritage Area – provides legal protection
cNHA - candidate Natural Heritage Area - no legal protection
pNHA - proposed Natural Heritage Area as advertised in 1995 - some legal protection
SAC - Special Area of Conservation – provides legal protection
cSAC - candidate Special Area of Conservation open to appeal/ transmitted to EU
SPA - Special Protection Area – provides legal protection
cSPA - candidate Special Protection Area
NP - National Park – provides legal protection
WHS - World Heritage Site
NNR - National Nature Reserve – provides legal protection
BIO - Unesco Biosphere Reserve
RAM - Ramsar Site
EDS - Eurodiploma Site
ASI - Area of Scientific Interest - no legal protection
BGR - Berne Convention Biogenetic Reserve
COR - Corine site
WS - Wildfowl Sanctuary
RFF - Refuge for Flora or Fauna
CBA - Coillte Biodiversity Area
Undesignated site - no known designation - no legal protection
The number of sites listed in the CWS database with a nature conservation designation and the degree of
protection offered are summarised in Table 7.4 below. A list of the 300 wetland sites recorded in the CWS
database and the specific conservation designations on each site is provided in Appendix 8 in this report
(the Excel version of this spreadsheet is included on the report CD).
In the case of known wetland sites in County Clare, many fall within a designated site (SAC, NHA or
SPA), which should in the long term provide a degree of protection for these sites. This optimism must,
however, be tempered by the fact that habitat loss in terms of extent and quality of habitats is still
occurring within candidate SACs and NHAs due to human interference (see section 7.8 below).
The NPWS is planning to produce Conservation Management Plans for each SAC, SPA and NHA in Ireland.
Each plan will list the wildlife resources of the area, the current human uses, any conflicts between the
two, and strategies for retaining the conservation value of sites. The draft plans will be given to a liaison
committee and other interested parties for discussion and consultation. The NPWS will then prepare a
final version of the conservation plan. Consultation on draft consultation plans has begun. Conservation
Plans, once complete, will be reviewed on a 5 year cycle.
Data provided by the Management Planning Services Unit (MPSU) section in NPWS (dated 21 February
2007) indicates that 382 conservation plans are presently planned for wildlife sites in Ireland. In total
274 plans are in preparation, 64 plans are completed and ready to go to consultation, while 44 are in
consultation or have gone through this process.
Within the NPWS Fen Study database (Foss 2007) of the 808 fen sites listed a total of 219 sites have
management plans in preparation, 38 plans are completed and ready to go to consultation, while 40 are
in consultation or have gone through this process. Implementation of the recommendations in these
plans will provide additional conservation protection to fens within the listed sites.
To provide increased conservation protection under the Habitats Directive to SACs from damaging
activities, a series of Notifiable Actions have been drawn up by the Department of the Environment on
these areas (see www.npws.ie). A landowner must obtain a written consent before performing any such
operations on, or affecting the land or waters within an SAC or fully designated NHA.
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