In 2016, Letterfrack Tidy Towns embarked on an invasive species control programme with NPWS and Connemara West to begin actions in Letterfrack. NPWS provided the herbicide and Connemara West undertook the work. The two main projects were Gunnera control in the vicinity of the Radharc Bhinn Ghuaire and Letterfrack Church. The second project was to eradicate lesser knotweed from Ellis Wood and adjacent areas. The control was very successful.
In 2016, Letterfrack Tidy Towns through the Connemara Green Festival hosted a talk on Invasive Species control with particular emphasis on the effective control of rhododendron with Elaine O’Riordan, Galway Co Biodiversity Project Manager, Applied Ecology Unit, Centre for Environmental Science, NUI, Galway.
In 2017, again though the Connemara Green Festival, Letterfrack Tidy Towns hosted two environmental talks one by Cleggan Tidy Towns on their successful gunnera invasive species control project and one on Letterfrack’s collaboration between Tidy Towns, Connemara West and the Connemara National Park to tackle Japanese knotweed in the village and on National Park grounds.
In 2020, Letterfrack Tidy Towns were successful in obtaining funding from Galway County Council to embark on an ambitious control programme for the Village. The stands of Gunnera and Japanese knotweed were village was mapped and photographed prior to treatment and this survey will be hugely important in monitoring the effectiveness of the treatment and for monitoring those sites to enable early action to prevent further outbreaks. This work will continue in 2021.