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Great News!
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It’s a little chaos busy here today – so this is a simple copy and paste, but we wanted to share this superb news from SWT:
The Wildlife Trust for Sheffield and Rotherham is delighted to announce that, with the support of Viridor Credits Environmental Company, it has secured enough funding to purchase the largest area of Greno Woods; the area which has been held by the Esm©e Fairbairn Foundation for 18 months.
Cathy Slater, head of development at the Trust, explains, “the purchase of 143 hectares of the woods is now underway and should be complete by the end of March. It is quite a landmark for us as this is the first nature reserve we will actually own, rather than lease”.
But, the appeal will continue: when it was launched, the goal was to raise £1m in order to purchase all the land (169 hectares in total) and deliver the plan of work on site which includes:
• Repairing and improving footpaths and bridleways
• Replacing some of the coniferous trees with native wildlife-friendly broadleaved species
• Controlling the encroachment of bracken and birch onto the area of rare and valuable heathland habitat, and
• A programme of public events and activities to encourage people to learn more about the ancient woodland
Lisa Nelson, General Manager of Viridor Credits Environmental Company said “The purchase of Greno Woods by the Wildlife Trust is an essential step in securing the long-term future of our remaining ancient woodland for the enjoyment of current and future generations”.
Other funders include: the Banister Charitable Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the JG Graves Charitable Trust, Marjorie Coote Animal Charity Trust and the Sheffield Town Trust.
The areas of Greno Woods which were thinned last winter are already showing signs of benefitting, with an increase in sunlight reaching the woodland floor encouraging the rejuvenation of a range of wildflowers and shrubs. This year’s felling work is now complete and these areas will also soon regenerate.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the appeal” said Ms Slater “The response from our members and the general public has been amazing and it’s wonderful to hear so many stories about why this beautiful woodland has such a special place in people’s hearts”
Published Thursday 15 March 2012