This Advisory Note is about putting together an arts event in your local woodlands. It is based on the experiences of Golygfa Gwydyr who have run the Caerdroia Theatre in the Gwydyr Forest for over 10 years. This Advisory Note outlines what needs to be considered when developing an idea, approaches to community engagement, and the practicalities of running an event in the forest. An example of a typical Golygfa Gwydyr event is outlined so you can see how we produce an event.
This advisory note gives information about how communities and landowners can work together. Most woodlands in Wales benefit from active management to improve the quality of the habitat and generate a sustainable source of timber. Many landowners struggle to find the resources to effectively manage their woodlands, but involving the local community can be an effective solution to the benefit of landowners, people and the woodlands themselves.
The key to successful woodland management is good information and careful planning. This Advisory Note provides guidance on the types and sources of the information you will need and some ideas for how you might build up understanding of your woodlands over time. This is set against the theoretical background of sustainable woodland management derived from internationally accepted good practice.
Following on from previous Advisory Notes, the next step is to pull all the information you have gathered together and define objectives for your community woodland. This is a key step in putting together your woodland management plan. The purpose of this Advisory Note is to demystify this process and give some practical examples of how some community woodland groups have arrived at objectives for their woodland.
This Advisory Note has been written to help you better understand the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (WFGA) goals and the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR) principles. It suggests ways that you can incorporate them into a management plan which you can use to deliver your group’s activities, and when applying for funding. It draws on the experience of community woodland groups in Wales identified in the report Scoping the delivery of Welsh Government policy goals by Community Woodland Groups, which is available from Llais y Goedwig.
Knowledge of your woodland is a prerequisite for successful management but when you start out, unless you are very fortunate, you are likely to have significant information gaps. Even if you do have a lot of prior knowledge, it is best to organise it in a systematic manner. This Advisory Note is intended to lay out the types of information you will need to prepare your woodland management plan (see Advisory Note 7). The list of information you need for management planning is long, but don’t be put off. Under the adaptive management principle, you can start managing your woodland straightaway using the best information available; you can then make provision for further surveys in your management plan and revise your plan as needed. This Advisory Note will point you towards pre‐existing data on your woodland and provide some simple ideas for carrying out your own woodland surveys. This Advisory Note can be used in conjunction with the Woodland Health Survey produced by Llais y Goedwig in conjunction with Plantlife.
This Advisory Note is about understanding the needs of your community so that you can assess how your woodland group can respond to them. It gives an overview of experience and suggestions from community woodland groups and highlights different elements that new and established groups should consider. Every group and every setting is different but there is much that we can learn from each other.
This Advisory Note has been written to help you consider which legal structure would be appropriate for your new community woodland group. It draws on the experience of community woodland groups across Wales who have already tackled this question who now operate under a wide variety of forms. This note is intended as a guide and highlights key factors to consider.
Woodlands of all sizes, forms, characters and histories are scattered across the landscape of Wales, from ancient gorge woodlands barely touched by man to the regimented lines of planted conifers. Many are potentially suitable for management by the local community, but how do you go about getting involved? This Advisory Note sets out some basic ideas and approaches for getting your community actively involved in managing the woodlands around you.
