Through our NRN Habitat Mapping Project, we passed on knowledge to Shropshire citizens of Shropshire’s finest, most important habitats, and how to identify them. In return, they have been inundating us with newfound knowledge on where to find these habitats. In this case, we used this knowledge to bring power to our comments on a potential Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG).  

In response to the Climate Crisis, the Forestry Commission (FC) have begun to offer grants to landowners to plant trees. Naturally, we doth our caps to FC for such an idea. However, we do also subscribe to the principle of ‘planting the right tree in the right place’. This is where John Lyden - one of our NRN Habitat Mapping Volunteers – and his knowledge comes in.... 

In the spring and summer of 2021, John donned his walking boots, and his knowledge of habitat surveying, and off he popped to an area of South Shropshire. There he found knowledge both on the habitat there, and the animals using this site, and he communicated that knowledge to us by handing in his annotated map. After this, we became aware of the potential WCPG. Armed with the knowledge we received from John, we were in a better position to comment on the WCPG to hammer home our principle on responsible tree planting. 

Together, by communicating as staff and volunteers, we made this knowledge power – our NRN Habitat Mapping Project assisted in the retraction of this WCPG.