EIP Update
Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments Final Update The Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments was a five-year (2019-2023) agri-environment scheme that worked with over 100 farmers in the Allow River Catchment. The aim of the project was to protect and restore blue dot (high-status objective) rivers, including the Allow, Dalua and Owenanare, and to create a blueprint of how to farm with nature to protect water quality. The project successfully trialled a hybrid results-based payments approach: • Results-based Payments – farmers received a payment that was determined by the quality of a measure to protect water quality (e.g., wet grassland, riparian woodland, vegetated in-drain buffers) • Additional Proposed Works – farmers could apply for capital funding to install measures on their farms that would reduce pollution potential (e.g., farm road upgrades, hedgerow planting, alternative drinking sources)
What are blue dot catchments?
Under the Water Framework Directive, all waterbodies in EU member states must achieve ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ ecological water quality status by 2027. However, some waterbodies have been assigned a highstatus objective which means that they must achieve the highest ecological water quality status by 2027. These high-status objective waterbodies are known as blue dots, and these represent around 9% of all waterbodies in Ireland. They are an important for several reasons. For example, they serve as an ark where sensitive species survive during pollution events and can then recolonise the polluted water downstream when it is restored. A good example of this is the Freshwater Pearl Mussel, whose survival is dependant on high-status water quality.
Habitat Retention • 95.5ha Wet Grassland • 38.5ha Species-Rich Grassland • 50 x Vegetated In-Drain Buffers • 12 x Pond/Swale/Wetland Retention • 22.48ha Riparian Woodland Retention • 32.85ha Semi-natural Grassland Enhancement • 1.9km In-stream Woody Habitat • 5.67ha Riparian Scrub Retention • 15 x Nutrient Flow Pathways
Biodiversity • 330m Grass Margins • 6 x Sand Martin Colonies • 1 x Dipper Box • 15 x Barn Owl Boxes
• Biodiversity Bonus Payment – In 2022, all participating farms were mapped and assigned a biodiversity percentage. Farms with a high biodiversity payment received a payment.
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Buffers • 19km Watercourse Protection (fencing) • 647m Hedgerow Retention (NFP) • 2 x Coppicing of Willow • 1342 trees in Native Tree Groves • 1.9km Flailed/Grazed Buffer
Nutrient & Sediment Management • 2 x In-drain sediment pond • 1 x Check dam • 16 x Low emission slurry spreading • 4 x Rainwater Harvesting
• Knowledge Transfer/Farmer Training – farmers received a payment for attending farm walks and training events relevant to catchment management (e.g., biological water quality, naturebased solutions, soil health)
• Demo Farm – Participating farmers received a payment when demo farm visits were hosted on their farms
the final year of the project the project issued payments for:
Results-based measures
There were four categories of results-based measures in the project: Buffers, Habitat Retention, Biodiversity, and Nutrient & Sediment Management. In 2023,
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Riparian woodland on the blue dot River Owenanare Issue 104 December 22nd, 2023
