Inishowen hosts New
Zealand ambassador
22.11.23
THE Inishowen Rivers Trust
(IRT) recently hosted the New Zealand ambassador to
Ireland, Trevor Mallard, on a field trip to sites in
Carndonagh and Clonmany to better understand how the
IRTs natural flood management (NFM) projects in the area
can potentially help New Zealand with its flooding
issues.
On Monday, October 30th the New Zealand ambassador to
Ireland, Trevor Mallard, met with representatives of
Inishowen Rivers Trust, Donegal County Council and Inish
Forestry at the Glennagannon River, Carndonagh and the
Ballyhallan River, Clonmany. The ambassador heard about
natural flood management projects on the local river
systems and discussed ways in which NFM could assist New
Zealand with its increased flooding issues.
The August 2017 flood in Inishowen was a major event in
the memory of local people and not something that is
likely to be forgotten due to the amount of damage done
to land and property. Productive land was lost,
businesses wrecked, infrastructure destroyed and
transport links cut off. The folk memory of past
flooding in the 1950’s is still present in the older
people, but the younger generation had not seen anything
like this locally in their lifetime. Similar rainstorms
are now likely to occur more often in the future meaning
that these normally 'once-in-a-lifetime' events will be
seen more frequently over a lifetime, and ways are now
needed to control any future flooding using nature-based
solutions.
The first stop of the day was to inspect work carried
out by IRT in 2020 on the Glennagannon River at
Riversdale, Carndonagh where flooding had scoured the
riverbank downstream of a bridge. The landowner had
requested that IRT repair the riverbank using natural
materials in an effort to reduce the impact of the river
on the riverbank when in flood. As a result of these
woody revetment repairs the riverbank has completely
revegetated and works more naturally with the water flow
to slow it down, deposit more gravel on the riverbed and
to keep temperatures more stable for the fish and
wildlife in the river. |
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Ambassador Mallard
inspecting the natural flood management project in
Adderville, Clonmany. |
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At Adderville, Clonmany,
Ross Buchanan of Inish Forestry showed the ambassador
how slowing down the flow of water through hilly
farmland can reduce the impacts of flooding further down
the Ballyhallan River at Clonmany village. In 2021 Inish
Forestry undertook the physical works of installing up
to 69 structures including leaky dams and check dams on
the Ballyhallan catchment to slow the flow of water in
the upper reaches of the catchment and delay the release
of it so that any future flood peaks in Clonmany can be
spread out over time, making it less likely for the
river to flood as badly as it had in 2017 and reducing
the likelihood of property damage. |
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Ross Buchanan of Inish
Forestry describing how leaky log dams work to slow down
the release of flood waters to the Ballyhallan River. |
The final stop in the tour
was a visit to the picturesque Glenevin Waterfall to
recall the destruction caused by the 2017 flood there
and the subsequent rebuilding of the famous walkway
through a big community effort involving landowners,
local people and contractors. It was discussed how the
potential for NFM measures upstream could delay the
release of floodwaters over the waterfall without
interfering with the waterfalls overall natural beauty
and flow.
Sean Toland, Project Officer at the IRT, was pleased
that the ambassador met with IRT and local landowners
Patrick Roddy and Michael Devlin to discuss how NFM
works on their land saying: "It’s great to see that the
Kiwis are interested in what we are doing here in
Inishowen around natural flood management with the idea
of using it in places like the Hawkes Bay and Gisborne
which have been badly affected by flooding in recent
times." |
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Ambassador Mallard took in
the picturesque views at Glenevin Waterfall while
learning about how natural flood management techniques
upstream could reduce the likelihood of destructive
flooding there. |
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After a cool, damp and
overcast morning out on the hills the group stopped off
at the Market House Café in Clonmany to warm themselves
up with coffee and scones and discussed what had been
seen and heard on a highly informative trip for all
involved. The ambassador then continued on his fact
finding mission after lunch to meet with Inishowen
Upland Farmers to discuss common farming interests
between Ireland and New Zealand. |
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