Tipperary County Council has removed large amounts of obstructive material from Lower Ormond rivers and streams 

  Tipperary County Council has removed large amounts of obstructive material from rivers and streams during the last year. 

  Barry Murphy, Engineer, told the July meeting of Nenagh Municipal District, that large amounts of silt and vegetation have been removed from streams and rivers in the Rathcabbin, Lorrha, Borrisokane and Ballinderry areas. 

   Lisa Dolan, ecologist, was appointed by the Council to oversee the clean-up work of the streams and rivers. She pointed out that unfortunately in some instances silt remains a problem. “We will remove more silt,” she said, “and plant trees along the banks. Tree planting sometimes eases the general obstructing problem. Riparian trees such as alders decrease the amount of obstructive vegetation on the banks. Our general aim is to maximise the water-flow in these water channels. We are doing the work in as environmentally sensitive a way as possible. For example, in the Ballyfinboy river in the Borrisokane area we saw the presence of a number of otter couches. We therefore called in the National Parks & Wildlife Service who advised us on how best to go about our work without disturbing the otters. We have also seen evidence of an increase in heron nests on the Ballyfinboy River; and an increase, along the banks of the same river, of the rare plant the Nettleleaved Bell Flower.” 

  Members of the local Drainage Committees were present at the Council meeting and they welcomed the Council’s report. One of the members said there’s still a lot of obstructive vegetation on the Ballyfinboy river. 

  It was also pointed out during the meeting that the rivers often have no fish when they are flowing through farmland, but do have fish when they are flowing through woodland.