Watch: West Roscommon landscape deeply scarred by worst Roscommon wildfire in living memory

The true scale of the destruction of forestry and bogland in West Roscommon, including the devastation of a special area of conservation (SAC) comprising unique flora and fauna, has now become apparent days after the area was hit by a raging wildfire.

Yesterday, the Roscommon Herald travelled along a section of an historic SAC bog walk in Carrowbehy with Declan Elwood, vice-chairperson of Gorthaganny Community Development.

Hundreds of acres of bog and forestry charred by the worst Roscommon wildfire in living memory have deeply scarred a landscape that is rich in flora and fauna.

Declan calculates that 1300 acres of bog and forestry have been burnt, twenty per cent of that being forestry plantation. The destructive impact on the area’s rich biodiversity has been seismic.

“There are flora and fauna found in the Carrowbehy bog walk which have not been found anywhere else in Europe. But that whole area is destroyed and everything associated with it is destroyed. There is only one per cent of Europe’s raised bogs left untouched and fifty per cent of that one per cent are in Ireland.

“Carrowbehy is one of three major untouched bogs in the country and there are remnants of potatoes ridges in it going back to the time of the famine,” he said.

At this stage, Declan said it was uncertain what could be recovered. “There are mosses there not seen anywhere in Europe. Are they just dead or will they rejuvenate from underground? We don’t know but as of now they are gone.” 

“The reality is that it’s going to take years for that green up and the village is going to look horrible,” he said.

Local wildlife has also been decimated in an area that has up to thirty species of bird. “Any birds who had young birds in the nest and any birds hatching eggs in the nest would have died.

“We opened the hall on Sunday night for all the fireman and one of the lads who lives a half of mile away from here said there was nothing but foxes around his house yesterday evening. The foxes had all vanished from this area,” he said.

Gorthaganny Community Development Company had also planted a lot of broadleaf trees, developed bee habitats, and information signage but everything has been destroyed by the fire.

There were local plans underway to further enhance an historic bog walk in Carrowbehy, located in a special area of conservation. However, the scale of the damage to the flora, fauna and wildlife has devastated the local community.

Declan said funding had been secured only recently to develop a boardwalk linking existing bog roads to create a looped walk.

Given the scale of the destruction to nature, Declan is hoping that the Government could step in with vital assistance.

“With the big emphasis on biodiversity, maybe some Government body will come into behind us now and try and get it back to where it was. Hopefully, there might be a silver lining yet,” he said.