A Transformation of Galway City that has captivated the heart of a President.

With so much hate, brutality, misogyny, racism, greed, nastiness, environmental destruction, conflict, war, ethnic cleansing and genocide taking place across the planet today, it is important more than ever to highlight and to celebrate 'good news' stories, especially when it involves individuals and communities in Ireland and elsewhere who are giving their time and energies to try to make a difference and by doing so bringing positive change to their societies and indeed the world.
Galway and Ireland as elsewhere is full of examples of such dedication and campaigning where what seems impossible can sometimes become possible as a result of individuals coming together to form active communities. "In Unity there is Strength" or as we say in Irish "Neart le chéile".
This has been the life long message of our President, Michael D. Higgins. He is one of those selfless visionary people who consistently speaks up for the oppressed, highlights injustice and applauds those who are trying to make a difference. He is an inspiration and is someone that regularly challenges us also to speak out and come together to do better for the greater good of society and indeed the planet. Unlike a growing number of political leaders internationally who preach hate, sow division, turn a blind eye to evil and who make personal profit and secure power out of what should be 'public service'. 

 
June 6th was one of the proudest days of my long life. It was when my good friend and our great President with his equally inspirational wife Sabina came to Galway to celebrate 25 years of the community-local authority partnership success story that is Terryland Forest Park. In the mid 1990s, the park was a dream that become a reality because of individuals demanding better, and then coming together as campaigning communities to convince local government and others of what was needed in urban Galway.
Thanks to the Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune for publishing my article on the celebratory day itself, and on the history, the present and future of what was labelled the"Green Lungs of the City" and the "People's Park" when it opened in the year 2000. As I state in the news piece, there are challenges and so much more has to be done to fulfill the hopes and dreams of its founders and its army of present volunteers.
But there has been so much which has been achieved that the people of Galway city of all ages should be proud of and their role in creating something that is truly beautiful and important- As the opening paragraph of the article states:
"The President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins was beaming with pride last week as he looked around at a landscape totally transformed in the heart of Galway City. “This is the Galway we want,” he enthused to a large crowd gathered in Terryland Forest Park. Where once he remembered there were barren fields, rubble and a litter-strewn river surrounded by barbed wire fencing, he now witnessed a wonderful mosaic of woods, meadows, wetlands, pasture, orchards and karst limestone outcrops populated by a diverse range of native fauna, flora and fungi. A green oasis in an urban environment serving as an ‘ecological corridor’ for wildlife connecting the vast Corrib waterways on its western boundaries through the city to farmlands on its eastern side."

 
So may I give a heartfelt 'Bualadh Bos' (round of applause) to those that made June 6th such a morale boosting event- including all in Galway City Council, Claire Power and all the team at Áras an Uachtaráin, those from the schools, the universities, the workplaces, the arts, the community and voluntary sector, the park founders and of course the hardworking members of the 'Green Army' (aka Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park).

Here's to the next 25 years!!

 

'Nature without Borders'- North & South Ireland unite to Restore Native Ecosystems

In a fine example of cross-border cooperation to tackle the Biodiversity Crisis, the 'Friends of Little Woods' in Fermanagh and the Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park have partnered together to create native wildlife habitats.

We gave this all-island initiative the title of 'Nature without Borders' as an encouragement to others to follow suit and to recognise that only humans put in the artificial barriers that disconnects humans and the rest of nature from each other.

The initial contact between both volunteer groups and the subsequent monies received as a result of our application under the Community Climate Action Fund were only made possible thanks to the involvement, advice and encouragement of Tiarnan Mc Cusker, the hardworking and visionary Community Climate Officer at Galway City Council.

Chris Hillcox of the Friends of Little Woods last weekend generously hosted a delegation from the Tuatha to take part in conservation activities (making bird boxes & setting up a Wildlife Observation Post) as part of the programme to develop a wet woodland in the Clogher Valley area of county Fermanagh.

It is hoped that this long-term rewilding project will provide a suitable habitat to facilitate a gradual migration of flora and fauna across the locality that are traditionally native to the area including endangered species such as pine marten and red squirrel.

 

Photo shows (L-R) Tobias, Mike and Ruth from the Tuatha with Chris of the Friends of Little Woods at the bog site in Clabby county Fermanagh.

Lending a Helping ARM to the Forest Park

 Congrats to the staff of the world renowned technology company ARM who today celebrated 1 year volunteering in Terryland Forest Park as a Champion of the Galway National Park City initiative.

I was so happy to speak at their celebratory event today which also represented 10 years since they started in Galway city.

Over the last twelve months, their staff on a weekly basis have undertaking a range of meaningful projects in the park including monthly surveying of the water quality (solids, temperature, pH levels etc) at different sites along the Terryland River, planting trees, litter picking, bio-blitzing and cleaning heritage signage. we thank them so much for their wondering meaningful volunteering - ARM is making a valuable contribution to the natural environment of Galway city.

Foraging: Discovering the Culinary & Medicinal Plants og Terryland Forest Park

Biodiversity Week in Galway city opened with a fully booked-out guided tour of Terryland Forest Park by medical herbalist and master tea-blender Jorg Muller.

This man is an unbelievable fount of knowledge on the food and medicinal value of plantlife. With each step he took along the guided walk through the forest, Jorg showed participants the value of so many common Irish plants that we see everyday during the summer months. All of us were amazed and delighted at the enormous benefits revealed to us of ribwort plantain, herb robert, hawthorn, cleavers, horsetail and so much more.

The walk was an eyeopener, truly a wonderful voyage of discovery.

But we recognised too that nature's food larder is not just for humankind, but also to be shared with the rest of Nature. 

 

Finally thanks to Paula Kearney, the brilliant hardworking Biodiversity Officer of Galway City Council, who organised the visit of Jorg Muller to Terryland Forest Park.

 

A Pheasant in Hare's Corner: A Good Omen for our Nature Restoration Plans!

 

As members of the Tuatha volunteers of Terryland Forest Park entered on Saturday a field designated for an exciting and ambitious rewilding project, I was somewhat taken aback when a startled cock pheasant rose up from the long grass at my feet and took flight into the sky.

Everyone of us present though considered it a good omen for plans towards a field recently purchased by City Council, after years of community lobbying, that has been absorbed into Terryland Forest Park.

Thanks to the collaborative approach and vision of City Council’s Biodiversity Officer Paula Kearney, City Parks’ Foreman Kevin Nally, Parks’ groundsman Edward Skehill and Deputy Parks’ Superintendent Lisa Smyth, a partnership with the Tuatha will transform the field into a large multi-layer pond and surrounding marsh with a viewing platform, a wet woodland, a native orchard, and an extensive hedgerow. The installation of a wooden bridge over the adjacent Terryland River will connect this site onto the Ogham Heritage Trail on the western side whilst the neighbouring fields to the north that also lie within Terryland Forest Park will become a major wildlife sanctuary (no human footfall).

An first step in making this ambitious plan become a reality was for members of our Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park volunteer group to meet onsite with the wonderful Rob Gandola, one of Ireland’s leading Pond Development Officers, to discuss our submission to Burren Beo under the Hare’s Corner initiative. Rob was so excited about our pond/wetlands proposal and feels that if successful it could become a gold standard and a case study for all Local Authorities. So fingers crossed that our Hare’s Corner submission will prove successful and will start the process in transforming a grassland into a significant nature restoration volunteer project.

The Bogs of Ireland, Past & Future exhibition

Last Saturday a wonderful Citizen Science initiative, coordinated by my great friend and colleague Niall Ó Brolchain, took place at my workplace of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics located in the Data Science Institute at the University of Galway.

Entitled Mapathon2024, it involved volunteers from many countries using open data to map the locations and policies of the peatlands across Europe. There were team entries from Estonia, Netherlands, France, urban and rural Ireland.

To support this event, I organised an exhibition on the Bogs of Galway based on photos from Insight’s BEO project, which represents an online digital local heritage archive comprising images, videos and audios telling the story of Ireland in times past. Supported by the Galway County Council's Heritage Office and the Galway Education Centre, this material has been collected over the years in collaboration with schools and community groups. Also on display were old sods of turf from our own family bog (sold many years ago to the Irish government for conservation purposes), an enamel (metal) mug used for the much needed cup of tea during breaktime on the bog, and the Slane (Irish = Sléan), the traditional implement used in Ireland for the cutting of the peat.

Hopefully these photos and items will bring back many happy childhood memories to people of my vintage of long hot summer days working in the bog with family cousins and neighbours!

The exhibition also highlighted the new role of peatlands in the 21st century in tackling the interconnected global climate and biodiversity crises and the importance in restorating them to serve as the largest of land-based natural carbon sinks.

Most of the photos in this montage are decades old and were originally black and white before I colourised them.

 

The 'Fighting Irish' put down roots in an Irish forest.

 

Thanks to the great efforts of community, educationalist and social activist Nell Buckley, the American Notre Dame University has this month become part of the story of Terryland Forest Park. This renowned university from Indiana USA operates a Global Centre at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara for its American students who can attend courses at the University of Galway. As part of a Sustainability programme, Nell has connected the Notre Dame students with the Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park to provide opportunities for environmental, Irish heritage and biodiversity activities. We are delighted to assist these endeavours and are working at putting in place a programme for the new academic year commencing in September. 

 

To start 'the ball rolling', the American students were brought on a guided tour of the forest park along its new human and nature heritage trails as part of the Galway National Park City 'Outdoor Classroom' initiative which included aspects of traveller and rural farming culture. After the tour the students took part in a litter pick. 

 

There are several accounts of how this American university got its nickname the 'Fighting Irish'. From its beginnings Notre Dame (Our Lady) had strong connections to Ireland. The founders of this university in 1842 were Irish and French priests. Its connections with Ireland increased dramatically in the subsequent years. One theory is that the nickname came from one of its presidents Father William Corby who served as Union Army chaplain to the legendary Irish Brigade during the American Civil War. A statute of him was erected in 1910 on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg (the first to honour a non-general) in recognition of his bravery. The moniker became mainstream as a result of a violent confrontation in 1924 between Notre Dame students and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) a white supremacist and anti-Catholic movement. The university's role as a high-profile Catholic educational institution made it a target in a country where anti-Catholicism still ran deep. To intimidate the Catholic and Irish-American students, the Klan came in large numbers for a week long gathering to the city of South Bend that lay just south of the university campus. The students in their hundreds took on the Klansmen stopping many of them getting off trains and tearing up their banners and flags. Faced with the hostility of the students, after a few days the Klan called off their 'Klavern' and left the city. It led to the end of this racist movement's presence in Indiana.

Parks Warden unit needed to protect the Beautiful Woods, Meadows, Parks & Waterways of Galway city

 

'Where Green meets Blue'- Top section of the photo shows the Dyke Road with Terryland Forest Park on one side and the River Corrib on the other. The other images show different aspects of the forest park and the banks of the river.

Galway city is so lucky to have such wonderful natural beauty so close to the city centre. Of course it did not happen by chance. For it took many campaigns and many battles over many decades by community activists to keep it from being lost to built development. But it also happened due to the foresight of many visionary council officials and councillors and their positive engagement with community activists from the mid 1990s onwards. A partnership that will led now to a long cherished demand of campaigners- a direct path link from the riverbank to the main area of the Terryland Forest Park. More to follow on this on a later posting. However after a delay of many months (from January), we are hoping that later today a motion from councillor Imelda Byrne on setting up a full-time parks warden unit is finally debated and voted through at a council meeting by councillors. Thank you Imelda for showing leadership and in taking this critical issue onboard. We do indeed have one fantastic dedicated hard working warden in Galway, namely Cora O'Kelly who does so much good. But she cannot do all of the city parks on her own whilst having other duties to perform (looking after life buoys). 

Natural Spaces are our Salvation  

The need for a full time seven days a week permanent on-the-ground parks personnel unit in all our major parks is now needed more than ever before. COVID has taught us the benefits to our wellbeing in walking through natural areas and in the vital role that these places play in reversing biodiversity loss, in acting as 'carbon sinks' and in improving air quality. 

 

A Pleasant Encounter with Young Drinkers 

Recently my good friend Ryan Crowell and myself spent a wonderful Saturday and Sunday in Terryland Forest Park and along the banks of the River Corrib chatting to people and informing them of the area's natural features and on its history; in picking up rubbish and in planting trees. What I particularly enjoyed the most was an engagement on Saturday evening at c4pm with scores of young people (late teens-early 20s) who were drinking and chatting in groups along the river bank. Whilst we informed them not to drink alcohol in public parks and to be aware of COVID restrictions such as social distancing, we told them that we there only as concerned citizens. In that capacity we ask them in a friendly manner to think of the damage that litter does to wildlife and in undermining other people's enjoyment of a public park. We asked them to take their litter home and, if they could not do so, to use the black bags that we distributed to all of the groups of young people. The youth were so positive in their response to us! Some of them helped us fill up seven full large bags with cans, bottles etc and remove them to my car. I have to point out at this stage that none of the young people were in any way intoxicated. Next morning (Sunday) Ryan and myself returned just after 9am as I wanted to find out if our words had any positive long lasting impact. What greeted us was indeed a lovely sight- multiple bags of rubbish piled together with green spaces and a riverbank almost totally devoid of litter! It was such a morale booster! In total, 15 large bags were collected and removed. There is no doubt in my mind where it not for our actions, much of this rubbish from one small area of the city would have ended up polluting the Atlantic Ocean.

What this incident demonstrated to me was the importance of having a permanent presence in Terryland Forest Park and other parks of friendly council (& volunteer) rangers actively engaging with visitors, keeping the parks clean, planting trees,improving biodiversity features, repairing fences... Is their money in the City Hall budget to set up such a unit? I feel that the council have to be imaginative in this regard, to think outside the box and to use for instance some of the dozens of fully funded staff positions being offered by government for developing a walking and cycling infrastructure for Galway City. After all, the parks and riverbanks will play a vital role in such a development as they already provide areas for people to walk and cycle amongst Nature.

The Destroyers have Returned but there is now Hope for a Brighter Future for our Parks.

Sadly the destroyers of public property that caused so much damage to Terryland Forest Park returned yesterday to the same spot. Once again a group of 7-8 individuals ripped up parts of the perimeter fencing and used it as fuel for a large fire that they gathered around whilst they drank away, littering the place with alcohol cans and other materials in the process. Once again a concerned citizen contacted me and once again I had to go to the park encouraging the quite substantial numbers of visitors (which was lovely to witness) to avoid the specific path where the anti-people group where drinking.

But the response of the council parks staff was magnificent. These workers, though very few in number, are excellent public servants who go over and above the call of duty to safeguard our green heritage. Upon telling them of the anti-social activity and vandalism taking place, they immediately contacted An Garda Síochána. The latter were there quite quickly. However the culprits left minutes before the police arrived probably noticing the arrival of people in yellow vests. Two weeks ago, another group of drinkers in the second bad location for anti-social drinking in the park (99% of the park area is safe) were seen by a council staff member who rang the Garda. They arrived very soon after the call and issued a notice to the anti-social individuals, telling them to leave immediately and that if they returned they would be issued with on-the-spot fines.

It is good that there is now a working relationship being developed between the council parks personnel, An Garda, community volunteers, and social services (the latter when required). It is hoped that this will be formalised within the next few weeks.

However once again the destroyers caused hundreds of euros of damage to a public facility, once again leaving others to clean up their mess, and once again walking away without consequence.

At the very least they should be prosecuted and serve 'barring orders' from the public parks that they have vandalised.

Tranquil biodiversity-rich parks have shown their importance to human physical and mental health as well as planetary health during the COVID pandemic. The evidence is there for all to see. In the case of Terryland Forest Park, it has for twenty one years acted as a unique urban wildlife sanctuary, a major 'carbon sink' with its c100,000 trees and has more than earned its official title of being the ‘Lungs of the City. But we as citizens need to do more to protect it and other city parks. Galway City Council must now provide sufficient financial and human resources necessary to make our green zones safe and enjoyable for both humans and wildlife.

As I and others have stated so many times before, Galway city desperately needs full time parks rangers and maintenance/repair personnel as is the case with even the small suburban parks in Dublin City.

So I would encourage all city councillors to support the motion of Councillor

Imelda Byrne

that is on the agenda of next Monday’s council meeting. It calls for the council to agree on the need for full time on-the-grounds wardens seven days a week in the main city parks to ensure that they are safe and of high maintenance for the benefit of the public and of biodiversity, and this commitment will be part of the council’s contribution towards achieving the vision of Galway as a National Park City.

Well done Imelda for proposing this motion and thank you so much for your enthusiastic public support and active stance for city parks in response to the serious escalation in vandalism that occurred after Christmas in Terryland Forest Park.

My message to all councillors is to please rally behind Imelda. If passed, this motion could be a game-changer for our city.

Finally a big thank you to Ryan Crowell and others who, fully cognisant of COVID restrictions, have been so active looking after the park over the last few months. Hopefully they will be the core of a new unit of volunteer rangers in Terryland post-COVID if the council officials back this proposal.

p.s. The destroyers were briefly back this afternoon starting another fire in the exact same location using wooden fencing as fuel. Council staff and Garda were onsite very quickly.

March 2000: They entered a field and left behind a Forest.

On Sunday March 11th 2000, nearly 3000 people turned up in what previously was pasture inhabited by a few grazing cattle adjacent to the Quincentenary Bridge. Over the course of a few hours, these volunteers planted thousands of native Irish trees in the first phase of a development new to Ireland, namely an urban forest park. We called it Terryland Forest Park, a zoned green area of 180 acres lying within the boundaries of Galway city.

It was an inspiring sight to behold. Months of hard work and lobbying by members of the park’s multi-sectoral steering committee (that included my good friends Lol Hardiman and Niall O Brolchain) led by Stephen Walsh, who had been appointed in the previous year to the new position of ‘Superintendent of Parks’ of what was then Galway Corporation, came to fruition. We watched joyously as groups of trainee Garda Síochána, scouts, girl guides, pupils from different schools, company staff as well as families, politicians and senior council officials arrived in the park over the course of the morning, afternoon and early evening armed with shovels, spades and forks to be part of what was and still remains Ireland’s largest community-local government partnered urban forestry project. There was a true sense of togetherness that day, a feeling amongst many that we were creating something special, something that we hoped would make the city a better place to live in for present and future generations as well as become a unique urban sanctuary for wildlife. Many of those dreams have indeed come true. Today it contains nearly 100,000 trees, wetlands, meadows, riverways, pathways, community garden, sculpture trails, farmland...But there are still other aspirations that have yet to occur that should reinforce its legacy.

Twenty years later, we are once again calling on the people of Galway to help bring this mighty forest park to a new level. We need volunteers soon and in the years ahead to plant, to create wildflower meadows, to act as tour guides, to litter-pick, to monitor and survey biodiversity, to map trails, to use old traditional rustic skills such as repairing drystone walls and an array of other tasks including becoming committee members...

If you are interested in being part of another generation of volunteers helping to make Terryland Forest Park an important hub in a new Green and Blue Galway, why not join an online (Zoom) get-together at 7pm on Wednesday? To register, send an email to me at speediecelt@gmail.com

Note: The first photo shows Terryland Forest Park on March 11th 2000. The second photo was taken in the same spot in May 2020.

First the People’s Tree Planting, now the People’s Clean up of Terryland Forest Park

 We are asking the people of Galway to take part in a litter pick on General Election Day (Sat Feb 8^th) to help protect our precious land and aquatic mammals, birds and insects that live in our woodlands, rivers and in the seawaters of Galway Bay.

It is so appropriate that this event is  being organised by our good friends in the Galway Atlantaquaria (Ireland’s National Aquarium) Clean Coast group. For what is dumped in a park or woodland not only kills its indigenous wildlife, but also destroys fragile ecosystems that live in the deepest parts of the Atlantic Ocean.

Take plastic for instance. Approximately 8.8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean much of it by way of rivers and by being wind-blown, leading to the deaths of at least 100,000 sea mammals annually. Over 90% of the plastic ever made has not been recycled with 50% produced annually being single use and discarded.  Sadly this type of plastic production is still continuing. A representative of Coca Cola, the world’s most polluting plastic brand that produces the equivalent of 200,000 bottles a minute, said last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the corporation has no plans to stop using single-use plastic bottles.

So let us the residents of Galway city keep highlighting the need to end the madness of once-off plastic, to increase the protection our precious urban biodiversity zones and keep the pressure on Galway City Council to have more on-the-ground park staff.

Community campaigning last year succeeded in having full time staff appointed to our woodlands. But when our green spaces worldwide and locally are being called upon to provide more trees, to serve as ‘carbon sinks’ and as safe zones for threatened flora and fauna, City Hall needs to do so much more if we are to emulate for instance the labour resources of Dublin’s Stephen’s Green and Phoenix Park.

In November, the people of Galway answered the call to plant thousands of native Irish trees in Terryland Forest Park. Now let us come together to collect the thousands of plastic bottles, beer bottles, beverage cans and other debris that cause so much damage in Terryland and along every seashore, park and woodland in the city and to demand greater restrictions on their manufacture and dumping.

Finally, participants are reminded to make sure to wear suitable clothing and shoes, all should ensure their own personal safety, wellbeing and not take risks.

The Citizen Science pioneers of Galway to exhibit at Science Fair

This year's Science Fair, that is the finale of the Galway Science & Technology Festival, is a game changer at so many different levels.
It will be the largest one day themed Climate Action event ever held in Ireland; will host on the same platform key guest speakers from the European Commission (Kathryn Tierney -Directorate-General Environment), an influential national environmentalist (Duncan Stewart) and an internationally renowned children's eco author (Andri Snær Magnason); will host the largest number of schools/youth groups ever to exhibit science projects in Galway; and will introduce the public to the country's first national sustainability course for Transition Year students.
But it will also be the first time that we will give due recognition to the great pioneering and ongoing Citizen Science work being undertaken by the community/environmental NGOs of Galway. Included amongst these groups is 'Friends of Merlin Woods' who will showcase their scientific/art (STEAM) projects done in collaboration over the years with schools and the general public including wildlife photography, biodiversity surveys and protecting/developing natural habitats

Schools Making a Difference on 'Climate Action'- St. Nicholas Parochial School.

It is inspiring to see so many schools enthusiastically getting involved in Ireland's largest ever child-centric festival on Climate Science that is taking place from November 10th until 24th.
St. Nicholas Parochial School, Woodquay, Galway city is one of those schools.
A visitor to their premises will be impressed by the beautiful environmental art on display including a huge oceanic theme mural (see photo) in the playground.
The children of this school will be exhibiting at Ireland's largest one day festival of science that will be taking place across the NUI Galway campus on Sunday November 24th.
St. Nicholas's projects will be based on the biodiversity of the Terryland Forest Park-River Corrib area and the network of 'boreens' (country lanes) that emanate from it into the rural hinterland of Coolough, Menlo and Castlegar.
Is your school taking part in the finale of the Galway Science and Technology Festival 2019 at the university on November 24th?
If not, there are still places available. We would love to see your pupils and students demonstrating to the world their awareness and solutions to Climate Chaos and Biodiversity Loss.
To book a stand, register at www.galwayscience.ie

Rollng out a 'Smart City', 'Green City' & 'Biodiversity City' as Galway's diverse sectors unite behind a ‘National Park City’ initiative.

Is this part of a real game changer for the planet's future? In my opinion, the answer is a resounding 'Yes'!

After over a year of direct campaigning, lobbying, consulting, researching and planning, I, along with so many others, was so proud to launch the ‘National Park City for Galway’ initiative on May 3rd at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics of the Data Science Centre of the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. With over seventy people attending (mainly representatives from a myriad of organisations) and twenty one speakers drawn from a diverse range of local sectors, who gave wonderfully inspirational presentations on the environmental work that they have commenced or completed in 2019, it was one of the most influential and hopefully most important eco-gatherings ever to take place in Galway.
The event was officially launched by Mayor of Galway city, councillor Niall McNelis, who outlined the progressive series of policies that Galway City Council has adopted over the last few weeks including setting up a new full time on-the-ground staff unit for the city’s forest parks, agreeing to appoint a full time Tree Officer, re-establishing the multi-sectoral Terryland Forest Park steering committee, taking on board the all-Ireland Pollinator Plan, putting a Climate Action Plan out to public consultation next month and actively considering the post of Biodiversity Officer in next year’s council budget.
Guest speaker was Duncan Stewart, Ireland’s most famous environmentalist and producer of RTE’s Eco-Eye television series, who gave a ‘reality check’ to the attendees by outlining his serious concerns at the increasing levels of environmental destruction both globally and nationally.

The event demonstrated though a unity of purpose for protecting biodiversity, reconnecting with the rest of Nature and in tackling Climate Change that is now developing within all sectors of urban Galway. It was a gathering of like-minded people drawn from third level colleges, scientific research institutes, technology innovation, schools, small businesses, social enterprises, corporations, hotels, cafes, digital maker clubs, the medical profession, the health administration, the arts, politics, local government as well as the environmental and community sector who have agreed to work together to integrate Nature into the lives and infrastructure of our city.
Each of the twenty two guest speakers (below) outlined new or completed projects for 2019 that will impact positively on people’s lives and the wider environment and in the process help Galway in achieving a National Park City status.
The audience included veteran community campaigners Martina Finn and Eleanor Hough; Terry McDonough from the Local Community Development Committee(LCDC); Martin Brennan and Patricia from the Sligo Greenway campaign group; a management team from the Nox Hotel group; representatives from SAP Galway; Alan Kenny from Galway City of Culture 2020; Damien Nee from Corrib Beo; Mark Cronin manager of the Galway Foodspace catering group; teacher Michelle McDonagh and senior students from Our Lady’s College; Laoise (príomhoide), Eoin and Fiona from Scoil Iognáid; Maire Keady Baker/Máire de Báicéir (príomhoide) Scoil Shamais Naofa, Bearna; artist Sinead Hackett; Feargal Timon from the Woodquay Residents’ Association; Brian Wall and Lukasz Porwol from Insight NUI Galway; Conor Hayes from College of Engineering and Informatics NUI Galway; Catherine Connolly TD; Marian Brady from the Galway Environmental Network; Marie Talty from Irish Doctors for the Environment; James Harrold and Edward Skehill from Galway City Council; Gary Davoren and Dick Delaney from the Connemara Greenway Alliance; Paul, Donal and Anne from the Galway Science and Technology Festival; and Stephen Corrigan from the Galway City Tribune who wrote a fantastic article in the current edition of that newspapers (see photo).
They were also great exhibits on show including a beautiful revamping of the Woodquay Park as designed by Mary Reynolds (thanks Feargal); a huge external float from the Connemara Greenway Alliance (thanks Garry); the wildlife of Terryland Forest Park (thanks Helen!); food waste to food preserves by Foodspace; and the Citizen Science-based ‘Mobile Environmental Science and Air Quality Lab’ from the Insight Centre for Data Analytics (thanks Martin). Well done also to Lukasz for his live streaming of the launch.

The groundwork has now being laid to unite all of these different stakeholders, representing most aspects of local society, into a steering committee that will coordinate an action plan and a roll out of deliverables for ‘National Park for Galway’ designation. The work to make this happen will be continuous. So watch this page for regular updates.

Speakers & Topics at launch (MC- Brendan Smith):
1. Mayor Niall McNelis, Galway City Council- Official Welcome.
2. Duncan Stewart, Eco-Eye - Guest Speaker.
3. Professor Mathieu D’Aquin, Director, Data Science Institute, NUI Galway- Data Analytics & Digital Sustainability.
4. Lorraine Rushe, Buildings Office, NUI Galway- The Green Campus of NUI Galway.
5. Sabrina Commins, Galway City Partnership- Urban Bee Project.
6. Catherine Seale & Denis Goggin, Corrib BEO -Care, Protection & Sustainable Development of the Corrib.
7. Pat Collins, Geography, NUI Galway- The Connemara Greenway.
8. Claire Lillis, Aerogen-S ocial Engagement & Urban Forest Sustainability
9. Caitriona Carlin & Geishe Kinderman, Applied Ecology Unit, NUI Galway- The Outdoor Laboratory.
10. Martin Serrano, Insight Centre, NUI Galway-Citizen Science & the Greening of Smart Cities.
11. Niall O Brolchain, Insight Centre, NUI Galway- ‘Care Peat’: managing and monitoring carbon reduction from peatlands
12. Phil James, Galway Waterways’ Foundation- Galway’s Waterways network
13. Agustín García Pereira, Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway- Land use mapping & Bee Habitats.
14. Colin Hanbury, Information Technology, NUI Galway-Fungi Identification app.
15. Eoin Jordan, Digital Makers’ Club, Insight, DSI, NUI Galway-Upcycling & 3D Printing.
16. Vincent Carragher, The Wheel- Citizen Science & the Curio App.
17. Ashling Jennings/Fiona O’Donovan, Healthy Galway-The ‘Blue Park’ of Galway Bay. 

      18. Laoise Breathnach, Scoil Iognáid - The Outdoor Classroom at Scoil Iognáid

      19. Caroline Stanley, Friends of Merlin Woods- The Flora & Fauna of Merlin Woods booklet

Yellow is the Colour of Springtime

Ever notice how many of the flowers that bloom in Spring are yellow in colour?
The photo shows celandine flowers covering the floor of a woodland in Terryland Forest Park, a nature reserve that is also populated in this season with yellow gorse, primroses, dandelions, daffodils and cowslips.
With 125 million years of experimenting and engineering with flowers Nature has come up with some amazing ways to ensure the survival of all of its species of flora. With a natural background foliage of green, bright colours such as yellow are easily spotted by the small number of pollinators that are flying around in the cooler weather of early Springtime.
The colour yellow also soaks up the warmth from a weaker sun during winter and early spring better than the foliage and the darker coloured flowers that generally bloom in late spring and summer. This allows these plants to develop better even in colder temperatures.

Council Neglect of Public Parks is harming City Schools, People’s Health and Biodiversity

We are asking all lovers of nature and of community to join volunteers at 10am on this Saturday Dec 8th from the Quincentenary Bridge entrance to take part in a significant cleanup in Terryland Forest Park that we hope will highlight the unacceptable increased levels of anti-social behaviour occurring there over the last few months particularly in terms of litter and therefore the critical need for Galway City Council to follow the lead of other cities in appointing full-time parks’ grounds staff.

Working with community volunteers and implementing an ‘Adopt a Patch’ scheme with local residents and businesses that we will launch next month, we feel that this new suggested policy change by City Hall could have a major positive impact on reclaiming the park for the people of Galway in order to fulfil its official designation as the “People’s Park” and the “Lungs of the City” as well  as a urban wildlife sanctuary.  Terryland has the potential to become a major green regional hub linking the Connemara Greenway over a new pedestrian bridge along the old railway pillars, to the Corrib waterways and to a large untapped walking/cycling ‘boreen’ network on the north and east sides of the city.

Sadly years of council neglect due to a shrinking budget from government and other factors is destroying our city’s green spaces particularly in relation to Terryland Forest Park, a green facility that its founders in 1996 had hoped would become the equivalent of the Phoenix Park of Galway.

A dedicated team of volunteers from all walks of life have done so much over the last few years to successfully develop this natural heritage zone as an Outdoor Classroom for local schools; an Outdoor Laboratory for third level science research; a major ecological corridor and sanctuary for wildlife that research has shown contains at least 350 species; and a landscape for revitalising rural heritage skills and organic farming. But sadly the absence of on-the-ground park wardens and maintenance staff has led to an epidemic of litter and a surge in vandalism that is transforming Terryland and other public parks into ‘No Go Zones’ for the public as well as negatively impacting on the park’s biodiversity.

Sadly the visitor is now greeted with carcasses of blackened burnt tree trunks on abandoned night-time campfires; the wanton destruction of picnic benches; paint-peeled park seating; mounds of alcohol bottles/cans lying beside outdoor exercise equipment; overflowing uncollected ugly council blackbags beside every seat which are ripped open with their contents covering woodlands and killing wildlife in the process; the detritus of heroin drug use in the form of used needles and tin foil scattered across pathways; gates and boundary fences rotting away; a Terryland river that is being choked to death by nitrates and many large empty display boards deprived of their lovingly researched and artistically drawn biodiversity information signage that have been inexplicably kept for years in cold storage by the council.  This sorry state of affairs is destroying the morale of many of those who have given thousands of hours free of charge since March 2000 to plant tens of thousands of trees, to develop a network of wildflower bee haven meadows, to carve Celtic art into large stones in order to form a unique heritage trail and to install multiple bat boxes. Many veteran volunteers of all ages have understandingly recently given up collecting rubbish monthly when they see no reciprocal council system in place to ensure regular litter picking and bench/fence/seating maintenance. 

This is a nightmare scenario to the visionaries drawn from council staff, politicians, state agencies, academia, local communities, schools and the environmental movement who came together in the 1990s to designate 180 acres of fields to develop a wonderful mosaic of parklands, farmland, wetlands, waterways, and woods that would serve the leisure needs of Galwegians of all ages as well as providing a ‘wildlife corridor’ linking the Corrib waterways to the farmlands of east Galway via the city.  Even then they understood the importance of easy access to natural land/waterscapes for people’s physical and mental health as well in benefiting children’s learning experiences through contact with Nature. Since then the importance of forestry in combating Climate Change,  maintaining soil fertility and structure as well as filtering toxic car emissions out of the atmosphere has being scientifically proven.

So we have written to Mayor McNelis, a great friend of the Terryland Forest Park, for his help in re-establishing the great sense of unity of purpose that existed when the park opened on a Sunday in March 2000 as c3,500 people turned up to plant an entire urban woodland in the heart of the city. We have asked him to organise a meeting of community activists with the CEO, officials, and councillors of Galway city council around our key demands of the reconvening of the park’s multi-sectoral steering committee which was promised last February by CEO Brendan McGrath; to ring-fence the €50,000 allocated in last year’s council budget towards developing a Management Plan  or Terryland park/river that was supposed to happen in 2018 and has not; to appoint a city Biodiversity Officer as is the case in Dublin; to consider building ‘green bridges’ to connect the different parts of the park separated by  roads; and finally to appoint full time wardens and operative staff for this and other parks. The latter is crucial if we are to restore public confidence in Terryland. Not having park ground staff is ludicrous. For instance St Stephen’s Green and Phoenix Park would degenerate into a dangerous wasteland within weeks if Dublin City Council withdrew staff from its grounds.   

In February, doctors, teachers, students, scientists, resident associations, urban farmers, environmentalists, state agency representatives, politicians, artists and others will come together to launch the campaign for Galway to become Ireland’s first ‘National Park City’. We earnestly wish City Hall to be part of this initiative. Hence we hope their actions on Terryland Forest Park over the next month will make the council worthy partners in this project.

July 21st Guided Bat Walk in Terryland Forest Park

The Return of the Batwoman!

On next Thursday (July 21st) night, the Batwoman, aka Dr. Caitriona Carlin, returns to Galway city to undertake yet another night-time investigation of the presence of bats in Terryland Forest Park. You are invited to take part in this event. Rendezvous: 10pm Dunnes Stores (Headford Road) car park.
The public event will be hosted by the Galway Bat Group.

Field studies undertaken by students from NUI Galway in late 2015 found six species of bat living in the park - Leisler, Daubenton, Brown Long-eared, Nathusias pipistrelle, Common pipistrelle and Soprano pipistrelle.
The walk is free and open to the public. For those taking part in the walk, please remember to wear suitable walking shoes and to bring rain gear. Children are encouraged to take part but must be accompanied by an adult.
The walk will commence in the section of the Terryland Forest Park behind Dunnes Stores, moving towards the woodlands adjacent to the Liosbaun business park.-Bat detectors will be available to go around on the evening.
All are welcome!

Creating a 'Wild Garlic Woods' in Terryland Forest Park

Many of Ireland’s native wildflowers face extinction due to pollution, invasive species, urbanization, loss of habitat and intensive commercial farming. The use of pesticides and herbicides in farming in order to increase specific crop yields has meant that wildflowers and pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies are being poisoned. Hence flora and fauna species are declining alarmingly and a countryside that was once populated with flowers representing all the colours of the rainbows, that throbbed to the sounds of a wide of variety bees and birds is sadly becoming a thing of the past.

Help reverse this process and to save Ireland’s indigenous flowers and associated pollinating insects and bats. Under the expert tutelage of Padraic Keirns, Conservation Volunteers Galway and Conservation Volunteers Terryland Forest Park are once again teaming up to organise another major re-flowering within Terryland Forest Park. This time it will be in woods near the Quincenntennial Bridge.
Over 1,000 plants have been collected for Saturday's 'plantahon' with the primary species being 'wild garlic' as we attempt to create thematic flora areas in certain locations within this 180 acres nature and farmland reserve.
So we ask you to please join us on this Saturday(May 28th).
Rendezvous: 11am near the Curry's (Galway Retail Park) entrance to Terryland Forest Park.
Google Map link: http://bit.ly/1NE6S2o