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The County Clare Wetlands Survey Patrick Crushell & Peter Foss 2008 ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8 Conclusions & Recommendations 8.1 Distribution and extent of the Clare wetland resource The aim of the County Clare Wetlands Survey (CWS) was to prepare a CWS GIS dataset and maps with an associated CWS site database of all the freshwater wetland sites in County Clare. Through the inclusion of data on sites and their habitats, provided by other groups, it has been possible to create a provisional summary wetland habitat map for the county, incorporating a large number of disparate data sets. In total some 2069 mapped wetland habitat units with a total wetland area of 23,440 ha has been identified in the County Clare wetland GIS, representing 7.4 % of the area within the county. In addition the CWS site database contains additional site information on 300 discrete wetland sites that have been previously reported in the literature. All of the 34 wetland habitat categories were recorded during the course of the survey illustrating the diversity of the wetland resource within County Clare. The wetland sites identified were characterised and mapped as far as possible in terms of the wetland habitat(s) present (using Fossitt 2000) and the extent of each habitat type(s) within the county was estimated. The accuracy of this data and the detail of information on sites was very much dependent on the level of detail recorded by previous surveys and reports. A significant number (131 sites) of previously unrecorded wetland totaling over 3,000 ha were identified through a survey of aerial photographs. In some instances habitats on these sites were identified to level 2 of the Fossitt classification although in most cases the sites could only be positively identified as belonging to the ‘CWS unknown wetland types’ category. Additional wetland sites are sure to exist within the county that have not been incorporated into the CWS dataset due to time constraints, ongoing surveys in the county which have yet to be completed, some additional reference data sets that were not made available during the survey (see Appendix 1) or due to a lack of mapped habitat data particularly within recognised conservation areas (i.e. NHAs, SACs and SPAs). Figure 7.1 shows the location of the various discrete wetland sites identified, represented as point sources, in County Clare mapped from the CWS GIS. The most valuable outcomes of the CWS are the two databases that have been developed during the course of the survey. These contain a vast array of information on the extent, distribution, previous studies carried out and characteristics of the entire wetland resource in the county. They should prove most useful as information sources for any future investigations into the biodiversity contribution of Clare wetlands. 8.2 Knowledge of the Clare wetland resource From the results of the present County Clare Wetlands Study it has been possible to assemble a list of sites, which in all probability contain wetland habitats. It is likely that other sites with wetland habitats do exist in County Clare outside of these sites which await discovery following a systematic wetland survey of the county and following inclusion of additional data sources which could not be incorporated into the CWS GIS at this time, due to time constraints, ongoing surveys or because data in digital format was not forthcoming. In relation to the sites which have been identified to date, significant gaps exist in relation to our knowledge of this wetland resource. Specifically, the following information deficits have been identified: • Confusion over the wetland type that exists on many of the CWS sites. This confusion arises principally due to the fact that wetlands often occur as a mosaic of different types within a single site and no detailed habitat maps exist that make area estimation on such sites possible. In addition due to the limitations associated with habitat identification from aerial photography it was not possible to identify the exact habitat type present within many sites. Therefore these areas were mapped in a ‘CWS Unknown wetland type’ in this project. 67
The County Clare Wetlands Survey Patrick Crushell & Peter Foss 2008 ____________________________________________________________________________________ • There is a significant lack of information on the true extent of wetland habitat types occurring on many sites, making it difficult to assign more than estimated area data to many sites, and limiting our knowledge of the exact extent of the complete wetland resource in County Clare. • Improvements in our knowledge of the wetland resource in County Clare, will only be achieved when a systematic wetland survey of the county, where classification of wetland type follows strict criteria, where extent of wetland type(s) is accurately mapped, and where previously unsurveyed areas identified as being potentially important for wetlands are surveyed. Any future wetland surveys of the county should prioritise key habitats that are deemed most threatened and for which information is lacking. To this end, Table 8.1 is an overall appraisal of the necessity to carry out further research or surveys on the various wetland habitats in Clare based on the results of this survey and with reference to previous experience of wetland habitat conservation. Habitats are scored according to their requirement for future survey. The scoring system applied is based on a priority scale: low priority (1) – medium priority (2) – high priority (3). Scores are applied to three different criteria including conservation importance of the habitat, the occurrence of an information deficit and perceived threat and sensitivity of the habitat (see caption of Table 8.1). These scores are then summed for each habitat type and ranked from highest to lowest. Those habitats with a higher score are deemed to be of the highest priority for future research or investigation using a ‘traffic light’ system. Red being high priority (score 11-15), orange being medium (score 6-10) and green being of low priority (score 1-5). This ranking system has been developed for use in the CWS and should be considered provisional. We believe however, that it is a relatively robust objective means of determining survey priorities. Those habitats that came out with the highest priority include fens, turloughs, lakes and springs. In the case of raised bogs they came out high due to their high conservation importance and threatened status. However since surveys have been carried out on these habitat type before it scored low for information gaps. We believe in this case the high ranking indicates that restoration or management measures should be applied to safeguard the habitat from future loss. 68
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Appendix 8. The County Clare Wetlan
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