Farmers tackle Japanese knotweed in Caherdaniel

GORGEOUS Derrynane harbour has a rapidly growing problem that’s anything but gorgeous – Japanese Knotweed.

Just a year ago the concerned Choiste Pobail Chathair Donall (Caherdaniel’s Community Council) organised a workshop to alert the wider community to the ever-bigger problem that is Japanese Knotweed. For a start, the growth of this exuberant and seemingly indestructible plant along the Coomnahoorna River has brought the installation of the eco-sensitive sewage treatment plant to an abrupt halt. And it is causing farmers and landowners one big headache

At that meeting, Jane Jackson from the Japanese Knotweed Survey and Awareness Project, showed how widespread the shrub is in much of Kerry. She said that the Council is trying to eradicate it along roads through a controlled programme of spraying with glyphosate over five years. But Japanese Knotweed on private land is the concern of the landowner. Concerns about the long term effects of spraying herbicides over such large areas of land were also raised. And, we don’t really know how to tackle Japanese Knotweed sustainably, other than by the repeated application of a glyphosate herbicide. But glyphosate could be banned by the EU!

Caherdaniel farmers and residents faced up to the problem and took matters into their own hands. Knowing the importance of their clean environment to their economy, e.g. having a blue flag beach, they formed the Caherdaniel Knotweed group, conducted a survey along the river to establish the scale of their problem, researched methods that are being tried worldwide to tackle Japanese Knotweed sustainably and with commendable eco-responsibility. They are proposing a pilot project along the Coomnahoorna river to test a number of these methods, combined with best practise advice from government agencies.

Then, with a clutch of possible initiatives they thought they could use, they contacted as many landowners as possible and found the majority very interested in buying into a properly-managed pilot project and agreeing to the pilot project experimentation on their land.

This community activism won plaudits from agencies, like the IFI (Inland fisheries Ireland), environmental officers from Kerry County Council, and IOFGA. They all urged the energetic citizenry to produce an invasive species management plan for five years to secure funding for the pilot project. The larger-scale funding EU sources have shown interest. But these agencies need to see a developed scientific management plan.

The Caherdaniel Japanese Knotweed initiative highlights the difference between government responsibility and citizen responsibility. Increasingly, citizens will become more active in solving problems that elected governments are no longer able to tackle, for whatever reasons.

But there’s a problem with the citizen approach to solving the problem. Despite its bad reputation Japanese Knotweed is actually harmless. We can eat it. It’s like rhubarb jam – if you like rhubarb jam. Cattle can eat it. Goats love it. But its pattern of growth is awesomely invasive and ultimately threatening to property. Glyphosate checks this growth through repeated spraying over five years. But, according to a World Health Organisation study, glyphosate is ‘probably carcinogenic’. That’s the paradox. It’s hard to sell this, because citizens don’t feel threatened until it is on their land. Then they panic.

Through this article, the Caherdaniel Japanese Knotweed group wants to raise awareness among residents, second-homers and visitors that a beautiful place like Caherdaniel and Derrynane can remain beautiful – but only if citizens can initiate appropriate action and have energy and resources enough to run with it. Much more important, however, will be the seeding of pilot project results to projects in other affected parts of Kerry, and providing strategies for landowners to tackle the problem of Japanese Knotweed on their land.

If you think that Caherdaniel’s initiative matters in other parts of Kerry and would like to contribute to getting the pilot project underway here’s how: email comments and ideas to: caherdanielknotweedproject@gmail.com. Visit our gofundmepage https://www.gofundme.com/caherdanielknotweedproject