The Scientific Basis for Raised Bog Conservation in Ireland Study, or the Raised Bog Conservation Study, commenced in March 2013. The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht appointed RPS Consulting Engineers, in association with key experts, to undertake the study which is due to be completed in March 2015.
The study is providing specialist scientific and technical information and analysis which will support the development of a National Raised Bog Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Management Plan. The purpose of the Plan is to describe how Ireland’s 53 raised bog SAC sites (sites designated for protection and restoration under the EU Habitats Directive) will be managed into the future.
A process called Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) will be undertaken to ensure that any potential environmental consequences of the management measures outlined in the Plan are considered before it is adopted.
The draft National Raised Bog SAC Management Plan and a draft SEA Environmental Report, describing possible environmental consequences and how they might be mitigated, will be published in late 2013 and will be subject to statutory public consultation.
It is very important that stakeholders are given the opportunity to influence the contents of the Plan. To that end, an SEA Scoping Report has been developed outlining the contents of the Plan as well as the environmental issues that will be taken into consideration during the development of the Plan.
The scoping report is available for public consultation on the study website until 1st October 3013. We would like to hear your views and opinions in relation to the Scoping Report, or any aspects of the Plan or the Raised Bog Conservation Study.
Web: www.raisedbogconservation.com
Email: info@raisedbogconservation.com
Post:
RPS Consulting Engineers
Unit 33 Innovation Works
National Technology Park
Limerick
The final National Raised Bog SAC Management Plan, incorporating recommendations from the SEA process as well as the input of stakeholders, will be published in March 2014.
Source: Coillte – Public Consultation on Scope of National Raised Bog SAC Management Plan
