ON THE MOUNTAIN

The commons are the area that several or all members of a community have the right to use. They are not owned by a single party but by the group as a whole. The Blackstairs region in County Carlow and Wexford feautures several of these communal areas. Commons have existed for centuries and are used to graze livestock.

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Nowadays, the number of people that use the commons have become less. Putting sheep up on the mountains requires work and knowledge. If the commonage area is not being grazed, the habitat changes. Thick and dense vegetation develops, with shrubs and bracken encroaching. On the other hand, in areas that are being overgrazed the plants can not regenerate effectively. Both developments lead to the decline of biodiversity.

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In order to combat this, the Blackstairs Farming Group designed a results-based payment scheme in 2015 tailored to the needs of the mountains and the farmers alike. The aims improve the condition of the mountains through managing grazing pressure, controlled burning and improving the suitability of the mountain for livestock purposes to encourage more farmers to put up sheep. For each commom, so-called commonage groups were established made up of farmers who own a right to the mountain in the area. The scheme is locally-led by a group that consists of farmers of the area who manage the project.

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