The BurrenLIFE Project Farming for Conservation in the Burren ...

The BurrenLIFE Project
Farming for Conservation in the Burren
Brendan Dunford, James Moran

Overview
- _____________________________
a brief introduction to the Burren
- the role of agriculture
- managing the heritage of the Burren
- The BurrenLIFE approach

The Burren Region (c.56,000ha, c.30,000 SAC, c. 1500ha State owned)

Boireann – rocky place, place of stone

Karren

Limestone Pavements (a priority habitat): 18,000ha in three Burren SACs (UK: 3,500ha)

The ‘lunar’ landscape of the Burren

The Burren was ‘a place densely settled and intensively farmed’ some 4,500 years
ago, at the end of the Neolithic period (Jones, 1997).

The hidden heritage of the Burren …

Goat cro

The Burren … one vast memorial to bygone cultures – Tim Robinson

It is said that it is a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood
enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury them …

Their cattle are very fat. The grass grows in tufts of earth of two or three foot
square which lies between the limestone rocks and is very sweet and nourishing -
Ludlow (1651)

2. The role of agriculture

1317: ‘overflowing with milk and yielding luscious grass’
1681: The Burren ‘ raises earlier beef and mutton … than any land in this kingdom, and much
sweeter by reason of the sweet herbs intermixed and distributed everywhere.’
1761: ‘The sheep graze there all winter without any fodder … near double the tallow of a sheep of
the same size fed upon rich pasture’.
1808: ‘immense numbers of sheep, the mutton of which is amongst the best in Ireland’
1862: ‘fat sheep and cattle of the Burren proverbial amongst Irish agriculturists …’

The Burren SACs contain over one quarter of the estimated 6,000ha of orchid-rich
calcareous grasslands (a priority habitat) remaining in Ireland.

Spring gentian

Managing the Heritage of the Burren
_

The Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS)

Year 1953 1960 1970 1980 1991 2000
Number 745 587 600 562 325 318
Number of Farm Holdings, Ballyvaughan RD (Source: CSO)
1400
1200
Number of farm workers
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1927 1935 1945 1953 1960 1965 1970 1980* 1986* 1991* 1996**
Year
Number of males employed in agriculture, 1927‐1996, Ballyvaughan RD.
( *males and females employed in AFF). Source: CSO

Coulter (1852): ‘the people are literally cooking their food with dried fern, heath,
brambles, and branches of hazel, of which there is a scanty growth here and there’

Farming for Conservation in the Burren
Project Budget: 2.23m euro. EU contribution:1,672,865 euro(75%)
Timeframe: September 1 st , 2004 – August 31 st 2009
Partners: National Parks and Wildlife Service (375,122 euro)
Teagasc (169,900 euro), Burren IFA (12,600 euro)
Supporters: Leader (Clare), Dept of Agriculture & Food , NUI Galway,
Clare Co. Co., Galway Co. Co., The Heritage Council
Project Staff: Three full-time staff:
Manager, Scientific co-ordinator, Administrator

Farming for Conservation in the Burren – what’s it all about

Farming for production and for conservation…
… a quality product from a quality environment

Objective: To develop a new model for the sustainable agricultural management of the
Habitats Directive Annex I Priority habitats of the Burren.
Limestone Pavement
Turloughs, Petrifying Springs, Cladium Fens
Orchid rich grasslands

Threats to priority habitats

Ground-up approach (better buy-in)…
Farmer and conservationist!
There is a world in the land, a farming world of the most sophisticated complexity and the most astute
and rich memory that in the next ten years will have vanished completely. O’Donoghue (Clare Champion 11‐2‐00).

Practical solutions …
versus

Flexibility of approach
Book of Survey and Distribution (Simington, 1641): Within the Barony of the Burren, 14 different
classes of ‘pasture’ are listed, such as ‘Dwarfwood pasture’ and ‘Rockie pasture’, further differentiated
into 69 subdivisions based on profitability, such as ‘Rockie pasture 1/3 profit’, ‘Rockie pasture 1/8 profit’.

Conclusions: The Burren – high nature and culture value landscape
Agriculture – key to the evolution - and conservation of - this landscape
Farming today – efficiency driven, marginal areas often ‘set aside’
Burren Farming – uncertain future, needs new impetus if it is to survive
BurrenLIFE approach largely informed and implemented by local farmers
Emphasis on engagement, partnership and practical, proactive actions

BurrenLIFE: Serving the communities of the Burren – past, present and future
Partnership

James Moran
BurrenLIFE-Approach

Talk Outline
• Public Consultation and Farm Visits
• BurrenLIFE-Monitor Farms
• Farm Planning Case Study
• BurrenLIFE and Agri-Environment
Schemes

Novel Approach
• Farmers: How do we address the threats that face
the Burren
• Project Partners: Support farmers to try out these
and other solutions on their farms.
• Together: Monitor the impacts to see how
effective these changes have proven to be.
• Result: Blueprint for sustainable farming in the
Burren.
• Implemented on BurrenLIFE monitor farms.

Public Consultation and Farm Visits
• >50 farm visits
• Informal, opportunity for the Project Team to witness
the diversity of systems, opinions and ideas that exist in
the region.
• Allow the farmer to learn more about the purpose and
objectives of the Project and how he / she might
contribute to it.
• Visits began with the implementation of a farm-scoping
questionnaire. It was designed to establish basic facts
regarding the prevailing farm system.
• Baseline environmental surveys of priority habitats.
• BurrenLIFE monitor farm selection (Target: 25 farms).

Farm Planning
• Baseline information from questionnaire,
environmental assessment, aerial photographs, OS
maps and REPS plan.
• Example of BurrenLIFE Farm Planning
– 140 Ha suckler beef farm
– 35 cows and 1 Bull
– Weanlings sold in autumn
– 4 Replacement Heifers
– REPS

Base Map

• High level of complexity
• Flexibility in management
• Farmer input

BurrrenLIFE Farm - Objectives
• Farm situation: Limited available
manpower, very restricted access and rapid
levels of scrub encroachment.
• Overall objective: Maintain or increase
grazing pressure
• Enhance access involving strategic removal
of passages of scrub.
• Introduction of concentrate feedstuffs to
replace silage.
• Ease restrictions on summer grazing.
• Labour efficient system.

Monitoring Actions
• Environmental – effect of actions on priority
habitats
• Agricultural – effect of action on animal health
and condition
• Socio-economic – costing of actions and effects
on farmers income and time

BurrenLIFE and Development
of Agri-enviromental
Schemes
• Many actions specific to Burren
• Approach = Blueprint for other areas
• Key aspects:
– Partnership
– Increased farmer participation and decision making
– Flexibility of approach (results driven)
– High biodiversity requires diversity of management
– Research and monitoring