Please Join us this Saturday for our ongoing Wetland restoration project

Once again dear friends we are asking you to join us for our wetland restoration project in Terryland Forest Park.

Sign up at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/help-create-a-major-wetland-in-galway-city-tickets-1043526003367?aff=oddtdtcreator

As you can see from the photo, the conservation work is coming along nicely. Two islands have been created in the middle of what will be a future 1000 sq metre pond.

We have also installed wan attractive new name stone plate at the entrance to this section of the park. Positioned on a large rock, it includes the name of this habitat in both Irish (Bogaigh) and English (Wetland) as well as a carving of a frog and a bullrush.

Help Create a Major New Wetland for Galway City

On Saturday next (Oct 5th) we need volunteers to help continue in the process of bringing a whole new dimension to the multi-habitat Terryland Forest Park in the lead-up to its 25th birthday celebrations in 2025.

To complement the park’s native woodlands, native wildflower meadows, waterways, and karst limestone outcrops, we need as many volunteers as possible to help lay down the surface of a 1000 square metre pond as the first step in an ambitious new wetland project, by a partnership between the Tuatha volunteers and Galway City Parks department, that will over the coming year encompass a wet woodland and marshes as part of a major nature restoration project for Galway city. This work will be also include the installation of a viewing platform, a bridge over the nearby Terryland River and the creation of an adjacent wildlife sanctuary (free of human footfall).

Rendezvous

Time: 10am - 1pm

Location: ‘An Nead’ (Irish for ‘Nest’ & volunteer HQ), Terryland Forest Park entrance, Sandy Road, Galway City. Google Maps Link-

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vhkRyq7htZe9SM3f6

Requirements: Wear suitable clothing and boots for wet and outdoor conditions.

Volunteer Tasks

Volunteers tasks will include jumping up and down (to music!) on the recently excavated pond (thanks to Paula Kearney, Lisa Smyth and Kevin Nally of Galway City Council Parks Department) in order to compress the soil base as well as plant locally sourced flora on its raised banks. Last Saturday international students from the Just 3 initiative in the University of Galway were introduced to Galway as they began the pond-making process, by happily foot stomping to world music ranging from American hip-hop to Irish trad to Punjabi disco!

The photo shows some of the students jumping up and down on what looks like a sandy beach in Terryland Forest Park but is in actual fact the remains of ancient aquatic wildlife that lived in what was once a large lake or marine environment.

Restoring a lost Wetland

In the early 1840s, an ambitious plan to build a long dyke wall to increase the water flow into the city to power mills and distilleries in Galway city was carried out. The result was the Dyke Road and the gradual draining of wetlands that existed between Terryland Castle and Castlegar Castle which transformed over time into farm pasture. A large part of this area was zoned in the mid 1990s for a future forest park either side of the remnant of a much larger Corrib catchment, namely the Terryland River.

The work of volunteers next Saturday will help restore some of a once extensive wetland and bring back a population of aquatic flora and fauna into the community-driven publicly owned forest park managed by Galway City Council.

Lending a Helping ARM to the Forest Park

Congratulations 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 have been invited to speak at their celebratory event today which also represented 10 years since the company started in Galway city.

Over the last twelve months, their staff on a weekly basis have undertaken 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. I thank them so much for their wondering meaningful volunteering - ARM is making a valuable contribution to the natural environment and sustainability of Galway city.

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.

Ireland's largest Urban Forest Park Community Project

The Terryland Forest Park was the largest urban neighbourhood forest project in the history of the Irish state when it commenced in January 2000. Initiated as a result of years of campaigning by resident groups, 120 acres was zoned by Galway City Council for a new woodland and riverine park.

Over a five year period, approximately 100,000 native Irish trees were planted by the people and schools of Galway city, thus creating an expansive natural habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna located not far from the city centre that connects into the vast Lough Corrib waterways, one of the most cherished areas of biodiversity in the country.

Within its grounds or on the park’s periphery, lies a rich fabric of Galway city’s history that includes working farmlands, the ruins of medieval castles, forgotten canals, the remains of a Georgian garden and WW2 urban allotments, Victorian railway lines and engineering waterworks.

A multi-sectoral steering committee was re-established in 2012 to help promote community engagement and to develop a long-term strategic plan for this wonderful green resource. Under the auspices of Galway City Council, it includes representatives from the City Parks’ department, Galway Education Centre, HSE, An Taisce, the Community Forum, GMIT and NUI Galway.

Unfortunately it was cancelled by city council in 2014 but it is expected to reconvene later this year with a new format.

Regular annual events include nature detective walks, native tree plantings, wildflower seed dispersal projects, third level science research programmes, organic gardening and a harvest festival. One particularly interesting initiative is ‘Slí na gCaisleán’, a pioneering pedestrian and cycling Greenway connecting Terryland Castle to six other castles that has the potential to become a world-renowned amenity to be shared by tourist and local alike.

From the early years of its formation, a programme of family picnic days, outdoor theatre, art workshops, community tree and school children bulb planting days took place in the park that often attracted thousands of participants.

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