This month we have updates regarding session first aid bags, Derby University Internship, Rosliston Forestry Centre Science Week, grant work update and more.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
What’s the job? – No3. Operations – Planning
Derby University Job Fair – Heartwood Internship
Rosliston Forestry Centre Science Week
Nest Box install & Grant work update
Woodland Management Plan Training
Session First Aid Bag
With so many members now trained in First Aid keeping up with the FA bag contents and their management is becoming difficult. For those of you who have taken a look inside the orange bags you will realise it can be challenging to find some of the smaller items such as sticking plasters and anti-septic wipes. It’s vital that the trauma bags are easy to get at and the way we manage these is generally accepted as suitable.
We are looking for a volunteer member to do a little research into a better solution for the more general FA items. Something that is easy to maintain and above all easy to use. Whatever the answer is it must be waterproof, easy to transport, robust and provide easy access for all items.
If you would like to take on the challenge, then please let me know and we’ll agree how we find a solution and manage the transition and communication to the FA trained members.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
What’s the job? – No3. Operations – Planning
Last month we covered a specific area of operations with the mapping that supports our sessions. This month we look at the more general activities that take place within the small operational team that enable woodfuel sessions to take place.
We work in a number of sites, currently:
- Foxley Wood known within the team as FXW, which is Woodland trust site.
- Donisthorpe Woodland Park (DWP) owned by Leicester County Council.
- Edwards Wood (EDW) a privately owned woodland.
- Nether Hall Wood (NHW) another Woodland Trust site.
- Pick Triangle (PTW) owned by the National Forest Company.
For each of these sites we have a nominated operations team owner who looks after the landowner interface, provides information for grant applications/claims, ensures our work in the woodland is to the landowner specification and is delivering the grant commitment.
Between sessions there is a great deal of work within the operations team to ensure sites are ready for a team to work, there are sufficient trees marked, extraction routes are planned and available and generally that the leads are able to plan their sessions and deliver logs for our boots. Information on progress comes back into operations through a reporting process followed by all of the session leads – what was achieved, what is left to do and any issues that may impact the viability of the next session.
Management of the sites and our work within them is important to our landowners. High quality management from our team ensures a continued relationship with them so we can work with them to maintain a 5 year “pipeline” of woodlands for us to work in.
One of the main issues we come up against is site access, both for member parking and timber extraction. This can be a limiting factor on whether a woodland is “Heartwoodable” or not.
Involvement in the operations team is open to everyone. If you would like to know more or feel you can help, please speak to one of the team.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Derby University Job Fair – Heartwood Internship
We have been accepted for an 80 hour paid internship by Derby University as part of their “Stay Local” initiative. You will recall we previously had a very successful intern, Chris Winson, who worked with us on the well-being aspects of what we do as a group.
This time we are looking for a student to work with us on the Biochar project. Here is an outline of the opportunity.
- Working alongside the directors, committee, and wider members to gain an understanding of the benefits of biochar production in the voluntary sector.
- Conducting research into where Heartwood sits across the existing biochar production and utilisation field. Using industry wide data and findings to compare and contrast leading to recommendations for the groups future strategic development.
- Create/contribute to a communication package covering the science, ecology and economy of biochar which can then be used by Heartwood to communicate into schools at a number of educational levels potentially beyond this internship.
- Provide ongoing updates and a final report on your findings to the Heartwood Committee (and membership).
We attended the recent Job Fair at the University on the 20th Feb where there was healthy interest in the role with over 20 students speaking to us and taking an interest.
Over the following two weeks applications will be received by the careers team and forwarded to us when they are ready to be sifted and interviewed.
I’m hoping some of the enthusiastic students we spoke to apply as they would fill the role. If anyone is interested in working with us on this project whether it be interviewing, mentoring, or assessing the work please let me know, it’s a great feeling to be helping with future career aspirations.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Rosliston Forestry Centre Science Week
The education team at Rosliston have asked us to work with them on the delivery of our Charcoal education package during their science week at the end of April.
On two of the weekdays (Thu/Fri 25&26th April) schools will be able to book their class into the sessions which will be ran one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Then on the Saturday (27th April) we will be part of the general science event for the public to see how our burners work and find out more about charcoal, biochar, and Heartwood.
We will need a small team on each day, so if you are able to help, please book onto the events on the system (one for each day). Your knowledge of charcoal or the educational material we have shouldn’t put you off as there are enough members of the team who have the information to share.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Nest Box install & Grant work update
As we get to the closing stages of the felling season, we finish off the remaining tasks of the woodland management grant. Thanks to the efforts of everyone, especially the operations team and the session leads we have achieved all of the grant work. This has been managed in a much more controlled fashion this year using maps, area markers and progress trackers managed outside of the sessions. The wet weather has challenged us, but we have got there. Our grant work has to be complete by the last day of February, woodland work after that is purely for continued interior thinning and to provide sessions for us all through to the end of March – work on Woodland Trust sites does not continue into March as their nesting bird policy restricts this. Remaining sessions this season are at Donisthorpe Woodland Park and Edwards Wood.
One of the final tasks for the grant work is the installation of the bat and nest boxes. These have been made over a number of TOITW sessions at the Hub and deployed into the woods by HCWG members and can only reasonably be installed when the thinning is complete.
This season we have made and deployed 69 nest boxes and 41 bat boxes. The Foxley boxes were installed on a beautifully sunny Sunday morning by 12 of our members. The boxes are prepared with wire and moved around the woodland ready for the ladder gangs to put them in their final places.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the nest/bat box work again this year, it gives us a great income stream from the grant work.
For everyone’s information the grant application for next season has already been submitted and we await news on whether we will be awarded it again for another season.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
The Hub Update
Over the last month the team up at The Hub have been making the bat and bird boxes to put up in the woods as part of the grant agreement. We have begun to light the retorts to create a store of charcoal as that season will be soon upon us. If this is something you think you would like to see, come along to a Time out in the Woods session.
Our recently harvested willow is slowly drying out so we also created a vessel out of materials at The Hub (The old tarpaulin came in very handy, once we searched for the non-holey bit) for soaking the willow so it will be ready to use on specified days.
The next Hub days are Friday 9th and Saturday 23rd March (please note we have moved the Saturday session just for this month).
An extra date for your diary - Heartwood is 10 years old this year and we are planning a family BBQ up at The Hub on Sunday 19th May, more details will follow.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Woodland Management Plan Training
Our next Community Woods training session is an introduction to producing a site Management Plan, and an overview of the various legislation that you need to consider when managing a site.
The training will take place on Monday 11th March at 09:30 – 1:00pm, to be held at the Barn Room at Rosliston Forestry Centre
The session will be a classroom based session with presentations, discussion and group work, and will cover the following topics:
- What is a management plan for?
- Why do I need one and what should it look like?
- How do I go about writing one?
Legislation to consider including:
- Rights of Way/Permissive paths
- Felling licenses
- Wildlife & Countryside Act
- Tree preservation orders
- Hedgerow legislation
- Protected species
Other considerations:
- Biosecurity
- Pests and diseases
- Timing of works
We intend for this to be an informative session to suit your needs, so if there are topics you would particularly like us to cover then please get in touch. There will also be an opportunity to stay on afterwards for a Q&A session until 2pm
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