Clara Bog

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Clara Bog
Irish: Dúlra Phortach Chlóirthigh
Clara Bog Walkway.jpg
Walkway in Clara Bog
Location County Offaly, Ireland
Governing body National Parks and Wildlife Service
website
Designated6 December 1988
Reference no.415 [1]

Clara Bog is one of the largest relatively intact raised bogs remaining in Ireland. It lies southeast of the R436 regional road between the village of Ballycumber and the town of Clara, in County Offaly. Much of the bog is state-owned and managed as a nature reserve covering some 460 ha. A Special Area of Conservation covers 836 ha.

Contents

History

The bog was formed in a depression, originally a shallow lake, at the end of the last ice age. An esker left by retreating glaciers cut off drainage to the north (the river Brosna catchment). Although usually classed as a relatively intact bog, it has been negatively affected by peat extraction and by the construction of the Clara to Rahan road in the late 18th century. [2] The bog subsided up to six meters following bisection by the road and associated drainage. The dome structure of the bog was also changed by the road, leaving two domes, a western one and an eastern one.

In the early 1980s, Clara Bog East was drained for potential industrial peat extraction, but public requests were made to the Irish Government to preserve the area by a number of international naturalists, David Bellamy among them. In 1987, both the Dutch and Irish Governments signed a technical agreement for co-operation in the area of peatland management and restoration. Clara Bog was chosen as one of the study sites and partly converted into a nature reserve. The industrial development was stopped and existing drains were blocked. [3] Its status and development since the last ice age concerning flora and hydrology has since been extensively studied. In 1988 it was designated a Ramsar Site. [4] Clara Bog and Raheenmore Bog (also in County Offaly) have been twinned with Bargerveen Nature Reserve, a Dutch Ramsar Site, under the European Natural Sites Twinning Programme (Eurosite). [5]

In 1992 Ireland considered putting forward Clara Bog as a World Heritage Site, but after some years on UNESCO's "tentative list" it was decided that the bog's integrity had been damaged by peat extraction and its candidature was withdrawn in 2009. [6] [7]

Peat extraction for domestic use

For centuries the Irish have taken turf (peat) from bogs as fuel for their fires, and there has been resistance to the requirements of the Habitats Directive for a ban on the tradition in protected areas. After a number of raised bogs, including Clara Bog, were designated Special Areas of Conservation in the 1990s, the Irish government granted itself a derogation to allow "domestic turf-cutting" on SACs for a period of ten years from 1999. Turf-cutting continued on the margins of Clara Bog, although this had a negative impact on its condition. [8] Negotiations took place to relocate turf-cutters to alternative sites of less ecological value. [9] In 2012 it was reported that a number of Clara turf-cutters had relocated to a bog at Rahan. [10]

Access and facilities for the public

In 2011 Brian Cowen completed his last official public engagement as Taoiseach in his hometown of Clara, when he opened the €2.1 million Clara bog visitor centre and library. He commented that the siting of the visitor centre avoided unnecessary intrusion on the tranquillity of the nature reserve. [9]

Public access to the bog is via a trackway from a car park on its eastern edge. Visitors are advised not to leave the boardwalk for safety reasons.

Related Research Articles

Peat Accumulation of partially decayed vegetation

Peat, also known as turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers 3.7 million square kilometres (1.4 million square miles) and is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet, because peatland plants capture carbon dioxide (CO2) naturally released from the peat, maintaining an equilibrium. In natural peatlands, the "annual rate of biomass production is greater than the rate of decomposition", but it takes "thousands of years for peatlands to develop the deposits of 1.5 to 2.3 m [4.9 to 7.5 ft], which is the average depth of the boreal [northern] peatlands", which store around 415 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon (about 46 times 2019 global CO2 emissions). Globally, peat stores up to 550 Gt of carbon, 42% of all soil carbon, which exceeds the carbon stored in all other vegetation types, including the world's forests, although it covers just 3% of the land's surface. Sphagnum moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most common components in peat, although many other plants can contribute. The biological features of sphagnum mosses act to create a habitat aiding peat formation, a phenomenon termed 'habitat manipulation'. Soils consisting primarily of peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding or stagnant water obstructs the flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing the rate of decomposition. Peat properties such as organic matter content and saturated hydraulic conductivity can exhibit high spatial heterogeneity.

County Offaly County in Ireland

County Offaly is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain. Offaly County Council is the local authority for the county. The county population was 77,961 at the 2016 census.

Bord na Móna, is a semi-state company in Ireland, created in 1946 by the Turf Development Act 1946. The company began developing the peatlands of Ireland with the aim to provide economic benefit for Irish Midland communities and achieve security of energy supply for the recently formed Irish Republic. The development of peatlands involved the mechanised harvesting of peat, which took place primarily in the Midlands of Ireland.

Mer Bleue Bog

Mer Bleue Bog is a 33.43 km2 (12.91 sq mi) protected area east of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Its main feature is a sphagnum bog that is situated in an ancient channel of the Ottawa River and is a remarkable boreal-like ecosystem normally not found this far south. Stunted black spruce, tamarack, bog rosemary, blueberry, and cottongrass are some of the unusual species that have adapted to the acidic waters of the bog.

Burns Bog

Burns Bog is an ombrotrophic peat bog located in Delta, British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest raised peat bog and the largest undeveloped urban land mass on the West Coast of the Americas. Burns Bog was originally 4,000–4,900 hectares before development. Currently, only 3,500 hectares remain of the bog.

Fenns, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve Nature reserve in England and Wales

Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (NNR) which straddles the border between England and Wales, near Whixall and Ellesmere in Shropshire, England and Bettisfield in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It comprises three peat bogs, Bettisfield Moss, Fenn's Moss and Whixall Moss. With Wem Moss and Cadney Moss, they are collectively a Site of Special Scientific Interest called The Fenn's, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem & Cadney Moss Complex and form Britain's third-largest lowland raised bog, covering 2,388 acres (966 ha). The reserve is part of the Midland Meres and Mosses, an Important Plant Area which was declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1997. It is also a European Special Area of Conservation.

Ballynahone Bog is a raised bog, situated in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, about 3 km south of Maghera, on low-lying ground immediately north of the Moyola River about 14 km from its mouth at Lough Neagh. It is one of the largest lowland raised bogs in Northern Ireland.

Westhay Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest

Westhay Moor is a 513.7-hectare (1,269-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north-east of Westhay village and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from Wedmore in Somerset, England, notified in 1971. Westhay Moor is also notified as part of the Somerset Levels and Moors Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive and as a Ramsar site, and a National Nature Reserve.

The Curraghs or Ballaugh Curraghs are a wetland in Ballaugh parish in the north-west of the Isle of Man. The area has a rich and varied biodiversity and is also the location of the Curraghs Wildlife Park, a zoo and nature reserve that incorporates the wetlands.

Pollagh Village in Leinster, Ireland

Pollagh, also spelled Pullough, is a village in County Offaly, Ireland, located in the midlands of Ireland. It is a rural village on the Grand Canal and lies between Ferbane and Tullamore. Much of the surrounding area is bogland, and is used to produce fossil fuels such as peat turf. The River Brosna flows close to the village. The Grand Canal was used for transporting peat and bricks produced in the area. Pollagh benefited from the canal in earlier years when it brought investment and employment from Bord na Móna, and it is now a tourist attraction. Pollagh is also known for its church, including its bog oak altar and stained glass windows, designed by the Harry Clarke studios.

Cors Caron

Cors Caron is a raised bog in Ceredigion, Wales. Cors is the Welsh word for "bog". Cors Caron covers an area of approximately 349 hectares. Cors Caron represents the most intact surviving example of a raised bog landscape in the United Kingdom. About 44 different species groups inhabit the area including various land and aquatic plants, fish, insects, crustaceans, lichen, fungi, terrestrial mammals and birds.

Dersingham Bog English nature reserve

Dersingham Bog is a 159.1-hectare (393-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Norfolk, England. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, a National Nature Reserve and a Ramsar site It is part of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the Roydon Common & Dersingham Bog Special Area of Conservation Part of it is a Geological Conservation Review site.

Boora Bog

Boora Bog is a cutaway peat bog situated in County Offaly, Ireland. Peat was harvested for fuel between the 1950s and 1970s, and the land is now being reclaimed for agricultural and eco-tourism use. There was a lake called Lough Boora, which was drained by Bord na Móna, but was not used for peat production: this area is now maintained as a nature reserve by the Irish Wildlife Trust. There are two angling lakes.

Ham Wall Wetland nature reserve in Somerset, England

Ham Wall is an English wetland National Nature Reserve (NNR) 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels. It is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Since the last Ice Age, decomposing plants in the marshes of the Brue valley in Somerset have accumulated as deep layers of peat that were commercially exploited on a large scale in the twentieth century. Consumer demand eventually declined, and in 1994 the landowners, Fisons, gave their old workings to what is now Natural England, who passed the management of the 260 hectares Ham Wall section to the RSPB.

Bargerveen Nature Reserve Nature reserve in Drenthe, Netherlands

Bargerveen Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in the Dutch province of Drenthe that has been included in the Natura 2000 ecological network. Since 2006 it is part of the Internationaler Naturpark Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen, a nature reserve located on both sides of the border between the Netherlands and Germany. Most of the transboundary nature reserve, some 134 km2 (52 sq mi), lies in Germany, in the west of the state of Lower Saxony. The sparsely populated landscape consists of large peat areas, heather, and small lakes.

Raheenmore Bog is a raised bog north-west of Daingean, County Offaly, in Ireland. Since the 1980s the greater part of the bog has been maintained as a 162 hectare Nature Reserve, which is currently managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. A Special Area of Conservation covers 182 ha, including some land in private ownership.

Mongan Bog Peat bog in County Offaly, Ireland

Mongan Bog is a peat bog in County Offaly, Ireland. The bog is located east of Clonmacnoise, a monastic site on the river Shannon. A nature reserve covering about 120 ha protects part of the bog.

Moine Mhòr Area of raised bog in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Moine Mhòr encompasses a large area of raised bog in the Kilmartin Glen area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. As well as raised bog there are areas of saltmarsh, brackish grassland, alder carr, fen and woodland, and the variety of habitats at Moine Mhòr provide important habitats for a variety of animal and plant species. The area was declared a national nature reserve (NNR) in 1987, and is now owned and managed by NatureScot. According to NatureScot lowland raised bogs like Moine Mhòr are some of the rarest and most threatened natural wildlife habitats in Europe, due to removal of peat, afforestation and reclamation of farmland.

Pollardstown Fen Nature reserve in County Kildare, Ireland

Pollardstown Fen is Ireland's largest extant calcareous spring-fed fen, a national nature reserve, Special Area of Conservation, and Ramsar site of approximately 321 acres (1.30 km2) in County Kildare.

References

  1. ↑ "Clara Bog". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. ↑ [ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Restoration of Lakes, Streams, Floodplains, and Bogs in Europe. Martina Eiseltová (Ed.), Springer Wetlands: Ecology, Conservation and Management Series, 2010. DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-9265-6
  4. ↑ "Ireland | Ramsar". Ramsar.org. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  5. ↑ Bog Twinning Ireland and the Netherlands RTÉ News 1992
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ Gordon Deegan (8 June 2010). "Killarney park and Clara Bog fail to make Unesco shortlist". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  8. ↑ Tracey Logan (June 2011), Turf-cutters battle over Irish peat bog ban, synopsis of radio broadcast ( From Our Own Correspondent ), BBC.
  9. 1 2 Taoiseach's speech: 7 March 2011. Department of the Taoiseach
  10. ↑ Kelly, Tom (2012). "Clara turf cutters are first". Offaly Independent . Retrieved 9 June 2015.

Coordinates: 53°19′11″N7°38′23″W / 53.31972°N 7.63972°W / 53.31972; -7.63972

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