This article is from page 14 of the 2014-11-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A GROUP of Clare volunteers, who give up their time to insure the preservation and better management of the Burren, have been recognised for their efforts and branded Ocean Heroes by an Taisce.
Formed in 2011, the BurrenBeo Trust Conservation are a group of north Clare locals who gather throughout the year to tackle some of the natural and manmade obstacles to the survival of the Burren.
The volunteers, who are on offshoot of the Kinvara based BurrenBeo Trust, were crowned as the an Taisce’s Ocean Hero Newcomer of the Year, in an award ceremony in Dublin last week.
While the volunteers have mostly focussed on inland activity in recent years, they received the award for their great efforts to return the Burren coastline to right following this January and February’s unprecedented storms.
“The spring storms hit the Burren coastline hard this year resulting in vast amounts of debris being carried far inland,” said a spokesperson from the volunteers.
“With a lot of hard labour and the support of Clean Coasts we have made a huge difference, leaving a large section of the Burren coastline visibly cleaner.
“We would like to thank all our volunteers for taking part in this project and the Clean Coasts team for all their support and advice.”
The volunteers work on a range of activities aimed at preserving the natural beauty and sustainability of the Burren.
Their work primarily involves the removal of scrub, which is taking over many areas of the Burren and threatens the sustainability of the Burren’s famous limestone pavement.