Woodland Management Training Day at Chatelherault Country Park

Training project aims to provide community groups and volunteers with skills and experience

On Wednesday 22nd October, a woodland management training day was held at Chatelherault Country Park as part of Central Scotland Green Network Trust’s (CSGNT) Biodiversity Training for Communities project. The training project aims to provide community groups and volunteers skills and experience in order to better manage their own sites or get involved in wider biodiversity management and monitoring.

This latest course was run by Mike Brady of South Lanarkshire Council ranger service and Emilie Wadsworth of CSGNT. We spent the morning having a guided walk of the park, led by Mike, which looked at different types of management, how you would identify what needs doing and start to formulate your own basic woodland management plan. The afternoon was led by Emilie, and looked at how you would actually manage the woods – what tools to use for what jobs, and how. We then all got stuck into some small scale woodland management tasks – pruning, brashing and coppicing.

The training programme that this event formed part of, has been funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, the Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership and the Scottish Forestry Trust. Participants should now be able to better manage, and improve the woodlands that they are involved with for people, for biodiversity and for the long term survival of the woodland.