Ballyhoura Development is participating in a new EU project Wetlanders, which seeks to preserve and restore wetlands and peatlands across partner countries.

Griston Bog in Ballyhoura has been selected as the Irish Living Lab site, and over the next three years, Ballyhoura Development will work with local stakeholders, alongside project partners in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany, to enhance the biodiversity of the site and to shape a Living Lab through facilitated citizen-science activities.

Project launch in Belgium

Ballyhoura Development recently took part in the kick-off meeting of the EU-funded Wetlanders project, hosted in Mechelen, Belgium. Wetlanders aims to consolidate and harmonise best-practice approaches to wetland restoration, and the meeting brought together partners from across North-West Europe to plan collaborative, innovative strategies to protect and restore wetlands.

The project focuses on developing replicable solutions to shared challenges affecting wetland health, including ecohydrology, soil conditions and land-use pressures in rural landscapes.

Learning from pilot sites

While in Belgium, project partners visited the Valley of the Kleine Nete, one of the project pilot sites, where parts of the valley will be restored as part of the project.

At Breeven, partners explored how ecohydrological restoration is being used to rewet fens and restore heathlands and forests. Planned restoration measures include closing old drainage ditches, restoring heathland habitats, and transitioning monoculture pine stands into mixed deciduous woodlands.

During a visit to De Zegge, partners learned how drainage and land reclamation have negatively altered soil and water systems. The Wetlanders project will support collaboration with local farmers and stakeholders to help ensure the long-term success of the planned restoration works.

Ballyhoura Development’s role

Ballyhoura Development’s role in the project is to learn, share knowledge and collaborate with Wetlanders partners across Europe.

There will be a strong focus on the Griston Bog pilot site, where Ballyhoura Development will lead activities to test, adapt and implement restoration and management measures to improve biodiversity and habitat connectivity.

Additional activities will include piloting and demonstrating community engagement, animation and capacity-building initiatives to raise local awareness, improve knowledge, and support participation in local wetland stewardship.

Ballyhoura Development Wetlanders project team L-R: Rhiannon Laubach, Catherine Smyth and John Scanlan. 

Learn More About Wetlanders Project