This article is from page 36 of the 2007-07-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
THE first open days ever to take place on conservation farms in Ire- land took place in the Burren over the weekend. On Friday and Satur- day, the BurrenLIFE Project hosted two such open days in premises on Slieve Carron Nature Reserve.
The days, which were open to the public, was part of the project’s awareness campaign a saw large crowds turn out for a series of dem- onstrations. The main focus of the open days was to highlight the work of the BurrenLIFE Project in the field.
“The project has achieved much in the first three years of operation. The
most important aspect has been the establishment of strong and durable partnership with the local farming community of the Burren,” said the Project’s Finance and Operations Officer, Ruairi O Conchuir.
“Detailed farm management plans are being implemented on each of the participating farms in conjunc- tion and in co-operation with the farmer concerned.
“The area now actively farmed for conservation covers in excess of 2,400 hectares of Burren SAC land. This figure is above the original tar- get set by the Project with the Euro- pean Commission.”
The main objective of Farm Dem- onstration Days, according to O
Conchuir, will be to highlight the work of the BurrenLIFE Project in the field.
‘We aimed to ensure those present at the events are given a compre- hensive overview and real picture of the work being undertaken on LIFE farms and the key role played by LIFE farmers,” continued O Con- Onttew
“The following aspects in _par- ticular were highlighted, farming for conservation in practice, animal health on conservation grassland areas, grazing regimes to support farming, the use of supplementary feed, targeted scrub removal and treatments and the treatment of re- erowth; conservation grade Burren
beef and lamb, habitat assessment work on SAC areas.”
One of the main aims of the project is to help protect the Burren’s pre- cious limestone payment by finding was to encourage farmers to farm in the traditional way, where animals are housed outside in the Winter months. These cattle and sheep help to keep down the scrub and brush and prevent it from taking over and destroying the natural Burren land- scape.
BurrenLIFE 1s a partnership-based, EU funded, project which aims to develop a new model for sustainable agriculture in the Burren. For more details on the project contact 065 708900 or on Www.burrenlife.com.