The following was an article that I wrote which was published recently as the centre-page spread in the Galway City Tribune newspaper:
Untapped Tourism, Health and Environmental Benefits
of Terryland Forest Park
Dear Editor,
The solution to some of the most serious
problems impacting on global society today from man-made climate change to
rising levels of mental illness and obesity in children lies within our city’s
boundaries. But Galway City
Council’s failure to fully exploit the wonderful natural resources that they
manage or to engage meaningfully with communities on the issue is not what one
expects from a taxpayer-funded public service institution and is only contributing
negatively to the environment and the health of the population-at-large.
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| March 200: First Community Planting (Plantathon) attracted over 3,000 people |
The Terryland Forest Park (aka the “People’s
Park”) was recognised in its heyday internationally as a flagship for community
environmental engagement as well as ‘best practice’ in developing natural
habitats/ecological corridors and protecting indigenous biodiversity within a modern
city setting. Its potential as an urban green resource for tourism and as a unique
Outdoor Classroom and Outdoor Laboratory for schools and colleges is enormous. But
years of indifference by the higher echelons of City Hall has alienated the
general public from something that they themselves created. A once proud
citizen-planted urban forest is being forgotten and, as with other green spaces
across the city, has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour, bush-drinking
and waste dumping. The controversy last autumn over the spread of the dangerous
invasive species known as Japanese Knotweed as a result of drainage works along
the Terryland River would never have happened if the park’s multi-sectoral
steering committee, with a membership that included the OPW, An Taisce, NUIG, HSE,
schools, ecologists and local residents, had not been abandoned in 2012 by City
Hall.
Yet it is not to late to save this vital
green landscape that can, with a new proactive partnership approach, live up to
its motto as the ‘Lungs of the City’.
Without trees humanity will cease to exist.
They along with other plants produce the oxygen that gives us life. Based on
scientific calculations the approximate 100,000 native Irish trees in
Terryland, planted by citizens, school children, visitors and council staff in
great Plantathon gatherings since 2000, absorb over a decade 3,800 metric tons
of the carbon dioxide gas that is contributing to global warming; offset the
climate impact of 800 cars for one year; supply the oxygen needs of up to
400,000 people each day and provide over 4.64 billion Euros worth of air
pollution control every 50 years.
Forests are central to biodiversity, supporting
more species than any other habitat. For instance, a single oak tree can be
home to over four hundred different types of insects, fungi, plants, birds and
mammals.
Until recently the sights, sounds and
smells of the wild were an integral part of our lives. The majority of Irish
people over fifty years of age have happy childhood memories of playing
conkers, climbing trees, identifying different bird songs, dipping into rock
pools, collecting leaves for art classes, making daisy flower chains and
picking blackberries to bring home to their mothers to make jam.
Modern research clearly demonstrates that
contact with the natural environment is highly beneficial to children’s physical
health, emotional well being and education. US, UK and European studies show
that patients recover better after surgery if they have a view of nature
through hospital windows; that planting trees in housing estates reduces
aggression and fear amongst residents helping to change ‘concrete jungles’ into
‘leafy suburbs’; that children diagnosed with ADHD improve when they are
exposed to nature and that getting one’s hands covered in clay makes us happier
due to the presence of ‘mycobacterium
vaccae’ in organic soils that triggers
the release of the hormone Serotonim in the human body which elevates mood and
decreases anxiety.
But too many parents today are unknowingly causing
harm to their offspring by isolating them from the ‘Great Outdoors’. Computer
screens, concerns about the dangers lurking on the street or in the park as
well as fears about vehicle traffic means that we are confining children more
and more indoors. A Natural England report shows that only 10% of children now
experience woodland play as opposed to 40% of their parent’s generation. The UK National Trust recently promoted
the use of ‘forest schools’ because of the positive effect that they have on
children with emotional or behavioural difficulties.
Forests and associated wildlife feature
prominently in our Celtic spiritual and cultural heritage.
With its diverse network of woodlands,
beaches, rivers and farmlands, Galway city has opportunities to integrate
hands-on nature studies and outdoor activities into the everyday lives of our
youth. Galway City Council in 1999 appointed its first Superintendent of Parks (Stephen
Walsh) and became an enthusiastic advocate of the social and learning benefits
of nature by establishing a multi-sectoral steering committee - whose
membership were drawn from educational, artistic, residents, environmental,
health interests as well as from different internal council departments - to transform a new green space as
proposed by local communities into an urban riverine woodland that was named the
Terryland Forest Park.
Regular community tree and wild flower planting festivals
gave citizens of all ages a sense of ownership, civic pride and loyalty towards
a man-made natural habitat that, in spite of an existing intrusive road network,
had the potential to become a ‘wildlife corridor’ linking the River Corrib to
the farmlands of east Galway.
But things later started to stagnate
especially when council officials in 2007 tried to build a major road through
the park, which was stopped in its tracks by widespread public opposition. City Hall then arbitrarily abolished the
steering committee.
Only slowly were the people once again allowed
to participate in shaping the future direction of Terryland commencing with the
creation of a vibrant neighbourhood organic garden in the Ballinfoile section of the
Park. In 2012, the re-establishment of the steering committee supported by conservation
volunteers and park staff led quickly and all too briefly to a series of guided
nature walks, family picnics, a Latino dance fest, eco-art projects, mass tree
plantings and ongoing weekly park cleanups in Terryland.
Other initiatives included the allocation
of HSE funds towards the installation of outdoor exercise equipment; the
digital mapping of a series of woodland walk trails; restoration of a fleet of
High Nelly bikes for touring the park and a major biodiversity survey carried
out by ecologist Tom Cuffe. The park was one of the main themes of the Tulca Visual
Arts Festival 2013 with a photographic exhibition by Robert Ellis. Terryland
Castle has became a focal point for Slí na gCaisleán, a leisurely 25km looped
‘Off the Beaten Track’ heritage cycle trail connecting seven castles in Galway
city and county, that could if further developed jointly by the two local authorities,
become a national green route with significant benefits to tourism and local communities
alike.
Over the last few weeks, NUI Galway scientists, schools, community groups
and environmentalists are discussing ways of finally transforming the woodland into the much anticipated
Outdoor Classroom with features such as rustic wooden benches and tables,
autumn time wild fruit collection forays and springtime animal forensic
detective challenges.
Scientific research is being done for a series of attractive
Irish/English information signs that would be placed in the now empty graffiti-covered
display stands that are dotted throughout the park, thus creating a network of
educational trails. The signs would identify the wonderful range of flora and
fauna that live within the meadows, woodlands, wetlands, farmlands and rock
outcrops of this important wildlife reserve.
Other enthusiasts want to use traditional
scythes to hand-cut grass in order to regenerate wild flower meadows;
repair stone
walls, hedgerows and paths, and to establish a volunteer Park Rangers unit to regularly
patrol the park as well as to provide regular guided walks to visitors. The
Galway City Partnership is endeavouring to introduce a Tús work project scheme
into the area.
The discovery last year of the bodies of
eight British soldiers from the Williamite Wars near to the Terryland Castle is
an example of the rich tapestry of historical sites that exist in the park
which cover the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Medieval, Renaissance, Cromwellian and
Victorian periods.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) is now considering
following the example of other countries in building ‘green bridges’ to
overcome habitat fragmentation caused by road construction. Surely now is the
time to ask the organisation to consider such with regard to Bóthar na Traobh
which dissects the park into two halves at its northern sector? Artists have pointed out that the park
should once again be used as a regular outdoor theatre and artist venue thereby
providing an added dimension to the local authority’s bid to secure the title
of ‘City of Culture’.
But the council-led steering committee has not
been allowed to meet since its brief resurrection in 2012, which has stifled
many of the aforementioned proposals. As nature abhors a vacuum, groups of
anti-social aggressive drinkers are now starting to congregate on evenings and
nights in certain areas of the park, leaving behind massive quantities of cans,
bottles, burnt palettes as well as human faeces. These negative activities will
continue as Garda and community wardens do not or will not patrol our city
parks.
As someone who along with a small band of
trusty volunteers organise weekly park clean ups, I am shocked by the level of inertia
that we sometimes encounter in City Hall in our efforts to combat vandalism and
littering. Time and time again
when we report rubbish that is to difficult for us to move, we encounter
reasons why it cannot be removed in the short, medium or even in the long term
or why prosecutions cannot be undertaken. In one example, I single-handedly had to
remove twenty five bags of domestic rubbish dumped in the park and store in my
property over one Christmas when the council refused to remove the refuse
before the holidays. I wanted to ensure that walkers did not have to suffer the
sight of litter-covered woodlands during the festive season.
Whilst some of the most visionary, hardest
working, civic-minded people that I have ever known serve within City Hall, nevertheless
there is a fundamental flaw within the organisation’s structure that the new
City Manager must rectify as a matter of priority. Correspondence to
officialdom is often ignored, there can be a puzzling disconnect between
different departments within Galway City Council as well as their relationships
to external bodies such as the community sector that is undermining public
confidence in the local authority. The Terryland Forest Park is one prime
example of where Parks, Planning, Heritage, Arts, Community, Transport and the Environment
could and should be coordinating their activities as part of an agreed joint
strategy with the social partners as was once the case. The hand of friendship being extended by
civic minded unpaid volunteers engagement is sometimes cut off rather than
reciprocated. Hence I have requested that the new City Manager Brendan McGrath support
the resourcing and reactivation of the Terryland Forest Park steering committee as well as
request the Garda Síochána, Galway City Partnership, Inland Fisheries Ireland,
the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the NRA as well as adjoining
business interests to become members.
Working together we can make this green
resource that, possessing the recreational opportunities of Dublin’s St
Stephen’s Green combined with the natural beauty of England’s New Forest, has
the potential to benefit tourism, scientific research, schools, local
communities, the environment and the health of our children.
Let is make 2014 the ‘Year of the Forest’
when peoples of all ages will use our greatest natural resources to benefit
themselves and to help save the planet in the process. Galway’s image as an
‘Arts City’, its growing reputation as a ‘Digital City’ can be complimented by
‘Forest City’ with a new proactive council-community-schools-colleges-business
partnership.
