World Water Day was celebrated on March 22nd with the theme of accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.
That day and the week around it, National Tree Week, were celebrated by Castleisland Tidy Towns PRO and Biodiversity Officer Shane McAuliffe through the planting of 4,000 trees along the upper River Maine and Fahaduff River catchment areas.
“The global campaign BeTheChange encourages people to take action in their lives to change how they use, consume and manage water,” said Shane.
“These promises from individuals and communities will contribute to the Water Action Agenda alongside larger commitments from governments, companies, organisations, institutions, and coalitions.
National Tree Week 2023
“National Tree Week 2023 was marked between 19th March 19th to 26th this year with the theme Biodiversity begins with Trees.
“Castleisland Tidy Towns has worked with farmers and local landowners in conjunction with Kerry Agribusiness to plant 4,000 native trees, including oak, alder, birch and willow along tributaries of the River Maine to boost biodiversity and improve water quality.
Mr. McAuliffe explains the idea behind the project: “In November 2021, I attended a Farming for Water Quality event in Castleisland hosted by Teagasc and Kerry Agribusiness which gave an overview about improving water quality locally as the Fahaduff and Upper Maine catchment is a Priority Area for Action under the Local Authorities Water Programme.
An Avid Tree Planter
“I then thought about how Castleisland Tidy Towns could get involved in helping to improve the water quality.
“Being an avid tree planter on my own farms I came up with the idea of giving trees to local farmers and landowners to plant on their river banks. I then applied to Local Authority Waters Programme for funding under the Community Water Development Fund 2022 and we were awarded €4,000 for the project.
“Trees were delivered by hedging.ie in January and they kindly added more trees to the original order so we had 4,000 trees to distribute.
Kerry Agribusiness Advisor
“Terry O’Mahony, Sustainability Advisor with Kerry Agribusiness worked to identify farmers and we had almost 30 farmers take the 4000 native trees to plant on their land. Not only will these trees help to boost local biodiversity and sequester carbon but they can have a big impact on improving water quality.
“The roots of the trees will help to bind and stabilise the river bank, preventing erosion. They will also help to intercept nutrients, sediments and pesticides which may flow off the land and prevent them from entering the water.
“These riparian buffer zones will also help reduce surface water runoff and in turn help to alleviate flooding,” said Mr. McAuliffe.
Grateful to Landowners and Farmers
“Castleisland Tidy Towns members are very grateful to all the landowners and farmers who took part in this project and they would like to thank Terry O’Mahony for his assistance.
Thank you to hedging.ie who once again provided a great deal to us when we ordered the native bare root trees. As we had more trees then we originally planned we were also able to give these out in the community, to the likes of Castleisland Community College and Scartaglen National School.
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