Coming together to protect nature in Tourmakeady

It’s one thing wishing you could protect and improve the biodiversity in your area, it’s quite another to have the money and the expertise to do it. However, one beautiful corner of Mayo has just been given a major boost, with new funds and new minds coming together to make a plan to protect the area’s unique local ecology long into the future.
Coiste Cultúr Teanga agus Forbartha Thuar Mhic Éadaigh (Tourmakeady Language Culture and Development Committee) has just been awarded a new grant to support a local Biodiversity Action Plan designed to protect and promote plants, wildlife and habitats. The grant from Community Foundation Ireland in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service will ensure that any steps to protect local biodiversity will be guided by the expert knowledge of ecologists.
Welcoming the support, Yvonne Finn, the chairperson of Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) Tuar Mhic Eadaigh, spoke about the importance the local community attaches to the biodiversity that surrounds it.
“Located in an attractive rural setting on the shores of Lough Mask and situated beside the Partry mountains, Tuar Mhic Éadaigh includes important designated protected areas, including SAC, NHA, SPA,” she explained.
“Protected species include fens, grasslands, tufted duck, gulls, terns, lesser horseshoe bat, pine marten and otter. Our unique landscape includes hills and mountains, rivers that flow into Lough Mask, woodland, bogs, semi-natural grassland and farmlands.”
Unsurprisingly, the area is hugely popular as a tourist destination, with visitors from local surrounding towns and further afield looking for outdoor and nature-based activities to enjoy.

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Network of support
The established SEC committee has been operating under the SEAI support programme since 2018. Last year, they supported the delivery of a biodiversity workshop for the TY class in Coláiste Muire, Tuar Mhic Eadaigh, by Biodiversity in Schools.
“Our community Futures Action Plan 2023-2028 developed with support from Mayo County Council, prioritised a Biodiversity Plan as a key area of action,” Yvonne said. “This community biodiversity grant will help us learn and understand more about the habitats and biodiversity in our area and advise us on how we can best protect, support and enhance these habitats and biodiversity for our children, their children and generations to come.”
The committee has also been receiving support from Coiste Pobail Thuar Mhic Eadaigh and they are looking forward to working with them, as well as ecologist Karina Dingerkus and local organisations and individuals in the community, on developing of the biodiversity plan over the next year.
Nationally, more 94 projects are receiving support, with more than 250 communities implementing local action plans since the partnership between the Community Foundation and the National Parks and Wildlife Service started in 2019. The support being provided comes from philanthropists and donors to the foundation matched with public funding.

Empowering partnerships
Making the announcement, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan TD spoke about the need for targeted plans for different areas.
“If we are to successfully tackle our national biodiversity crisis, we must all work together. This partnership between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Community Foundation Ireland is a great example of how we can empower and support community organisations to learn about their local biodiversity and use that knowledge along with their creativity to come up with a plan which is unique to their area,” he said. “I’m really impressed with the range of projects involved and excited to see the outcomes of their work.”
Under the partnership, the connectivity of the foundation to local communities built up over 25 years as a philanthropic hub is matched with the expertise and knowledge of the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Congratulating Coiste Cultúr Teanga agus Forbartha Thuar Mhic Éadaigh CFTR, Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland said:
“We are particularly proud that local efforts to protect habitats, plants and wildlife are increasingly growing into a national movement. The fact that this current grant round is impacting in every county shows the groundswell of support for biodiversity action. The partnership of the foundation, its philanthropists and community partners together with the National Parks and Wildlife Service is effective and works. Our natural heritage is being protected for generations to come.”
Niall Ó Donnchú, Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, added:
“NPWS is delighted to work with the Community Foundation of Ireland and to support the community groups participating in enhancing their local biodiversity. This is exactly the whole-of-society approach we advocated for in the fourth National Biodiversity Action Plan.”