Thomas Flanagan, Secondary School

Thomas Flanagan is a Galway National Park City champion for secondary schools and representative for the Galway Community College.

This college is leading the re-wilding of some of the lands surrounding the eastern side of Lough Atalia as part of a research collaboration between three schools from three different European countries based on working with national wildlife NGO’s to research and compile information about locally endangered species. Their national partner is the Irish Wildlife Trust.

One of the main objectives of this project is to work with local councils and other interest groups to try and implement corrective actions in order to relieve some of the pressures causing biodiversity loss. Loss of natural habitat is one of the biggest problems facing locally endangered species in and around Galway City. Lough Atalia is an EU protected SAC (Special Area of Conservation) site and is used as a nesting site for many bird species

The Galway Community College currently use this facility for outdoor pursuits including kayaking, archery, orienteering and a recently completed obstacle course.

All of its present users will continue to have access to this facility for recreational use but will

have the added benefit of using this site as a nature reserve for field trips and

science and geography habitat studies.