The Lough Erne Sustainable Wetlands Project

The Laugh Erne Sustainable Wetlands Project aims to identify ways of achieving sustainable and integrated management of water and land resources in the Erne catchment by bringing together government, voluntary organisations and the local community. The Erne catchment straddles the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and therefore must be managed on a co-operative cross-border basis. The project co-ordinator Janie Crone has already held a series of workshops and met with local wildfowlers, their representative from Lough Erne Wildfowlers Council (LEWC) and of course BASC. The highly successful management scheme, which is operated by LEWC in partnership with BASC, is already being quoted as a model of best practice.

The Lough Neagh Management Strategy

This is a very similar process to that which is taking place on the Erne. Again, the aim of the strategy is to produce management proposals which will help to ensure water and land resources in the Lough Neagh Catchment area are managed in a sustainable and integrated fashion. Peter McKinney, facilitator for the Strategy, has held a number of themed public meetings that have looked at the management of many activities that have taken place around the Lough, including wildfowling. BASC has become deeply involved in this process to ensure that wildfowling is properly understood and accepted, and that the strategy proposed is acceptable. The public meeting and consultation phase still has a long way to go and we are likely to see some form of strategy by summer/autumn of 2001.

Forest Service Access and Recreation Review

The Forest Service has appointed a consultant to carry out a Review of Access and Recreation in forests in Northern Ireland. The purposes of the review are to provide a comprehensive definition of current user groups, and to identify potential users who are currently under-represented. The review will also attempt to address whether public needs in relation to access and recreation in forests are being met. Obviously any changes to access provision in forests in Northern Ireland may have an impact on shooting practices. Indeed we have made a submission to the consultant and will closely monitor the review process.