Denis Strong
National Parks & Wildlife Service, DHLGH
Denis has been working in the National Parks & Wildlife Service - Western Region since 1990 and is involved in all aspects of conservation management, National Parks and Visitor facilities, education and law enforcement duties in the region.
Starting initially as a Ranger in west County Mayo, he studied Field Ecology at University College Cork, incorporating a particular interest in water quality and land-use and catchment management.
He was promoted to District Conservation Officer in 1998, co-ordinating all aspects of Ranger duties within the Region and working on the establishment of Irelands 6th National Park located in the Owenduff/Nephin Beg mountains in Co Mayo.
Since his promotion to Deputy Regional Manager in 2002, Denis has represented NPWS on monitoring groups with other state agencies, covering various projects and scales, including the nationally-significant Corrib Gas project.
He has also co-ordinated and assisted in the organising and running of numerous terrestrial and marine surveys including Ireland’s first all island comprehensive grey seal population assessments.
He has worked closely with Mayo and Galway Co Councils, Coillte Teoranta, Marine Institute and the Forest Service on property management in the Western Region including the Native Woodland Scheme and the EU LIFE Blanket Bog Project.
Currently working as a Divisional Manager since 2013, managing two National Parks in the western Division and several National Nature Reserves and a variety of stste owned properties.
Over the past decade, he has being working on the delivery of a unique upland forest re-wilding project in the Nephin Mountain range in county Mayo. This project involves the conversion of over 4,000ha of poor quality upland Conifer forest to be managed specifically for Nature conservation, education and sustainable outdoor recreation in the Region.
Denis will be a panelist in the The Future Galway session on Thursday 27 April.