A new conservation project that aims to protect and restore woodland in North Cardiff that has been damaged by unauthorised trails has secured £346,000 funding.
Led by Cardiff Council and funded by Welsh Government, the ‘Routes to Resilience’ project covers the Cardiff Beech Woods Special Area of Nature Conservation including Garth Woods, Fforest Ganol and Fforest Fawr, as well as adjacent woodlands and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Cwm Nofydd and Y Wenallt.
The project will see Cardiff Council working with partners including Natural Resources Wales, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taff CBC and Breedon Group, as well as local community groups, to improve access for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, by creating a core network of trails and reducing the overall number of trails.
Important woodland habitats will also be improved and restored through the natural regeneration of former trail areas, the removal of invasive species and native planting. Engagement with the local community will also take place to discourage the building of further unauthorised trails.
Cardiff Council Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: “The desire to get outdoors and explore Cardiff’s woodlands is understandable – having so much nature on our doorstep is part of what makes Cardiff special – but they’re fragile environments and the digging of unauthorised trails in these areas is doing some significant damage.
“Working with the community, the Routes to Resilience project aims to encourage people to use these areas responsibly, improve and restore the woodlands and strike a healthy balance between accessibility and protecting the flora and fauna that call the woods home.”
The two-year funding, from the Welsh Government’s Nature Networks fund will also see a programme of volunteer training and community workdays established to enable skills including trail maintenance, species identification and habitat monitoring to be developed.
