They are visible dozens of times throughout the year

For those who arent aware, An Gaorthadh prior to clear felling was one of the last remaining patches of primeval forrest in western europe (c.10,000 years old). It was an ecological time capsule, hosting so many rare species that had managed to stay untouched through 800 years of british feudalism on this island.

Its setting on what is a river delta made it almost impossible to navigate and hence, control. The labyrinth of streams and islands sheltered a small community of forest dwellers who lived amongst the trees, relying on the rich ecology for food and medicine, living in harmony with the landscape.

In more modern times this community relied on poitín making as a source of income, hiding stills in the dense woodland. Theres a local story of how two gardai were sent there to find these stills and hired a local boatman to help them navigate the tricky terrain. They scoured the place for the whole day, but every turn of the stream led to a place indistinguishable from the last and after a while, the men decided to call it a day, leaving the woods empty handed. The boatman dropped the guards to the shore, returning home with a smile from ear to ear. The cute fucker was the poitín maker himself and had cleverly led them on a wild goose chase!

That story, while probably a bit sensationalised, still goes to show how rich of a tradition exsisted there, and makes the fate of the gearagh even more heartbreaking.

In the 1950s compulsory orders were given to the community to leave their homes and were relocated, many settling in Cork City. Those who stayed didnt leave their homes until they were almost fully submerged, having to be evacuated by boat. Some of these people refused to use electricity until the day they died and some still used gas lamps and electric radios up until the early 2000s.

What the the free state government and ESB did was irreversible, regardless of how ‘necessary for our independence’ it seemed at the time. Thousands of years of what was OUR environmental and cultural heritage was erased and is what i believe to be one of the greatest tragedies of our collective story as Irish people.

There are reports however that the Gearagh is repairing, wild bird populations are returning and a local secondary school student discovered in a 1980s study that the forest was in fact regenerating and continues to do so.

This regeneration will be encouraged by low water levels such as this, and there is great potential for decommissioning the Carrigadrohid dam at the very least, which would do wonders for the area. The future of An Gaorthadh is hopeful, but must be backed by an awareness of this story, and of direct action to protect it and upgrade its status as a protected area.

GRMA x

Must have been a beautiful forest before it was destroyed

Would be a great movie set…something apocalyptic

That’s lovely now 

The whole upper reservoir area, past the inniscarra dam is and has been low for months. It’s very cool to see.

The stumps are really only not visible when the levels are quite high, they poke out of the water almost all the time. It is rarely this low however and even more rare is to see the little bits of dry land popping up turn green. The water level have been kept down quite consistently over the last few month.

Inniscarra cannot even add 1% to the grid at max output, yet it's a flood risk to ballincollig and city, it blocks migration and movement of fish like salmon.

It would be great to get rid of it.

Saving Eden by Kevin Corcoran is worth a read if you want to dive into the history of the Gearagh. Ecological disaster and also very sad for all those who had to leave their homes and land

https://youtu.be/5eyNX6JEGN4?si=3CAqdq_6lMBOtXcS Interesting documentary on the topic

Shame for a damn

Remove the dam and lets buy some surrounding farms and rewild it.

Used they hang people from that remnant of a bridge on the right as you drive over from the cork side…