On July 15th of this year, Kerry lost one of its most dedicated environmentalists with the death of Toby Hodd. Although he had come to the Killarney area only 11 years ago from the west coast of Wales, Toby left an indelible mark on nature lovers, environmentalists and botanists both in Ireland and Britain over the 40 years he was involved with the natural world. His contribution to the environmental cause, in particular the recording and preservation of sensitive species of plants and animals is of inestimable value to Earthwatch and the many other groups with which he was associated.
His deep love of all things natural was rooted in his upbringing in the landscape of Kent, Southeast England where he would frequently go bird watching. In 1960 while still a schoolboy, he rediscovered the Savis Warbler, as a breeding bird in the British Isles after it had been extinct for over 100 years. An ardent CND supporter at College, he graduated with an honours degree from the University of London in Zoology and Psychology (B.Sc. (Hons)) and a higher degree from the University of Aberdeen in Ecology (M.Sc.). For five years from 1967 to 1972 he carried out a research project, which helped to save the rare Indian Lion from extinction. He lived with the 200 wild Indian Lions in their last natural home, the 500 square mile National Park known as the Gir Forest in North-western India. His ecological research project in India led in 1982, to his publication, The Grasses of Western India.
When he lived in North-east Scotland during the 1970s, he was chairman of the Aberdeen group of the Conservation Society and campaigned to force the oil companies to reduce their oil spillages, which were threatening the bird and marine life. He also served as an independent councilor for his town in Aberdeenshire. He then lived in Wales from 1979 to 1989. In 1985 he received the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales’s Living Landscape Award for the Nature Trail, which he designed and constructed over a 5-year period near Aberystwyth in Wales. While in Wales he ran a Conservation Consultancy Service for Farmers and was responsible for planting tens of thousands of broad-leaved trees on farmland there. While living in Aberaeron as a member of Friends of the Earth he produced the first Guide to Recycling in Wales and organized the purchase and planting of half a ton of daffodil bulbs around the town.
Toby came to Killarney with his wife Tricia and four sons Matt, Stephen, Dylan and Rory in June 1989. No sooner had he arrived in the area, Toby was actively involved with first the local Green Party for whom he wrote to councillors on issues such as monitoring air pollution from car fumes and the depletion of ozone in Kerry. Then he joined the Killarney Nature Conservation Group (KNCG). Not only was he helping out with Rhododendron clearance and lakeshore clean-ups in the National Park but he was also a member of the committee of the KNCG for the best part of ten years. In 1995, he helped rescue Bunrower beach and marshes from a hotel development and the dumping of rubble by discovering rare species of plant such as Whorled Carroway and rare species of bird such as Green sandpiper. By submitting this report to the KNCG, it was then possible to get Duchàs, then the Office of Public Works to purchase Bunrower for the Killarney National Park.
Of course, in the meantime he had set up Earthwatch South Kerry in February 1994 due in part to liasing with Earthwatch Bantry (then the Head Office) over the issue of fundraising for the Save the Rainforest Campaign in 1993. Indeed the public meeting of Earthwatch Kerry was carried out in conjunction with Jim Woolridge of Earthwatch. The group was set up to promote public awareness on issues such as bike lanes, pollution and recycling through holding public talks, radio interviews and lobbying politicians and councillors.
As membership secretary, some of the major issues that Toby tackled included organising recycling facilities for schools, and lobbying authorities, ministers and councillors on environmental issues. In summer 1994, Toby lobbied the minister for the environment, South-Western Fisheries Board and Kerry County Council on the issue of the blue-green algae, which were polluting Caragh Lake, Killorglin and killing the dogs there. Then in 1995, Toby carried out plant surveys of four habitats at Gortahoosh, Killarney where a gravel quarry was to be built which would damage the sensitive fauna of the Flesk River including the freshwater mussel and salmon. In 1995, He was also involved with Earthwatch Kerry and the KNCG on the issue of the proposed development of a nine-hole golf course by the Castlerosse Hotel, Killarney on land beside Lough Leane. This comprised principally of Kelleher’s Wood, Belleview Wood and Victoria Bay part of the buffer zone between the Killarney National Park and Fossa Village to the west of Killarney which he demonstrated as being important habitats worth conserving.
In September 1997, Toby together with other key members of organisations such as the KNCG and An Taisce formed Save Our Lakes and Valley Environment (SOLVE) with the intention of identifying the causes of the blue green algae pollution as well as investigating the possible solutions. The group’s policies included lobbying local organisations in order to improve their attitude towards the lake and valley environment through the proper monitoring of water quality and the carrying out of an independent survey on the lake and its tributaries to identify the source and levels of phosphate entering the lake. In order to further highlight the problem of pollution in the lake, in February 1998,Toby helped organise a public awareness campaign called Phosphate Awareness Week which was a joint venture between SOLVE and the Lough Leane Working Group.
Toby’s interest in the environment extended far beyond his involvement in environmental groups such as Earthwatch and the KNCG and he was without equal for enthusiasm and research and carried out detailed botanical and zoological surveys of the Killarney National Park with a view to publishing a flora of the Killarney Area. Also as a member of both the Irish branch of Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Toby was well respected among botanists and ornithologists both here and abroad. In addition to going out on BSBI outings, he was also integral to the recording of new locations of plants for Kerry in the Atlas 2000, which covers both Ireland and Great Britain.
He will be remembered as a passionate environmentalist and a roaming naturalist who fought to preserve and protect the beautiful landscape, which we live in today. He was a restless campaigner, always available for environmentally aware people, for action, for small and big issues. In his own inimitable way he was a role model for concerned people without intending to be one. He was a gentle and dedicated man who lived consciously in and for our environment and was extremely aware of destruction near and far. He was an extremely generous and unselfish person and made a huge impact on the people and organisations, which he influenced and worked with. Toby lived a full and in many respects fulfilling life, a life, which was dedicated to nature, a life, which he wanted to live and for which on death his bed he expressed gratitude.
He will be greatly missed by many! But the best way to remember him is to fight gently, unselfishly and continuously for an ecologically sound and truly sustainable society, both on a global and local level. May he live on in all of us!
©Matt Hodd and Eckard Ladner 2000
Published in Earthwatch 51 Winter 2000
