BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN FOR RIVER DODDER AT MILLTOWN
This report was prepared for Milltown Biodiversity and Community Group, Dodder Action CLG.
The aim of our project is to protect and enhance biodiversity in Milltown (Dublin 6) and to
develop a community spirit focused on the environment.
This project started with reflections between Clara Richards and her brother-in-law Peter MacMahon about the lack of a sense of community in the Milltown area.
They were inspired by:
• the beauty of the River Dodder which runs through Milltown;
• the Community Foundation for Ireland’s Environment and Nature Fund 2019;
• and by the work of the local river Dodder Action CLG which has worked for ten
years, doing volunteer clean ups, raising awareness of ecological issues and doing
educational and promotional work with youth and educational groups.
A successful application for funding to the Community Foundation for Ireland was made by
the Dodder Action CLG. With the help of Dodder Action, Clara and Peter carried out various
forms of community outreach - word of mouth, presentations, door-to-door canvassing. They
led a half day environmental awareness workshop in February 2020, advertised locally and
attended by fifteen local people and Dodder Action chairperson Kevin Dennehy. From this
emerged an ad-hoc committee, which we named the Milltown Biodiversity and Community
Group. Faith Wilson, Ecological Consultant was engaged to help us understand the
biodiversity of our section of the River Dodder and to develop this plan.
Throughout 2020, members of the group got together to go through a co-design process,
which included:
1. Co-initiation: Defining the purpose and identifying a core group
2. Diagnostic part 1 (co-sensing): Biodiversity assessment (what is Milltown’s
biodiversity like at the moment?) 3D mapping (What is Milltown’s “sense” of
community right now?)
3. Diagnostic part 2 (co-sensing): stakeholder interviews
4. Integration: biodiversity assessment + community assessment
5. Action planning
Given the pandemic context in 2020 and 2021 we were unable to engage the wider Milltown Community as we would have imagined. However, we were able to identify key elements of our community life and environmental surroundings that could be improved. We include in this report the priority actions that we plan to take forward for enhancing both biodiversity and community.
Thank you to Ecologist Faith Wilson, to the Community Foundation for Ireland, to Dublin City Council, and to Dodder Action Volunteer.