Working with landowners, communities and individuals to help bring local woodlands back into active management.
This project has been designed to address the decline in rural skills and the reduced reliance on woodlands in our economy, which has left many local woodlands without active management.
We want to ensure that more woodland within the Chase & Chalke area is being positively managed for their natural, cultural and landscape value. Working with woodland owners, local communities and newly trained individuals, Wonderful Woodlands acts as a catalyst towards improving wooded areas of Cranborne Chase.
Project aims
- Work closely with landowners to help bring small and medium-sized woodlands back into active management for their biodiversity, landscape and economic value.
- Deliver a Woodland Skills Training Programme which will provide inspiration, training and recognised certification/qualifications in many skills for young people and adults.
- Deliver ‘Woodland Wild Things’ free forest school in partnership with the National Trust.
- Act as a catalyst for the improvement of conditions in wooded areas, and increase knowledge of their importance.
- Bring back into active management ‘showcase’ woodlands that demonstrate their wonderful benefits for biodiversity and the economy.
- Improve understanding of the benefits of managed woodlands in the wider community.
Project achievements
Grants Scheme
Our Grants Scheme is available to landowners who would like to restore important woodland heritage features, or who are interested in re-introducing positive management to see the difference it makes for wildlife and our landscape.
These grants are available to landowners where we can provide 100% grants for helping to restore important woodland heritage features, such as woodland banks or ancient deer pales, to sustain them into the future.
We are also offering 50% grant funding for selective thinning where landowners are encouraged to trial the reintroduction of positive management to see what difference it makes for wildlife, landscape and the aesthetic benefits of those using it. You can read more about these grant opportunities in our Guidance Document
Woodland Skills Training Opportunities Programme
We offered a Woodland Skills Training Opportunities Programme focusing on commercial accredited qualifications as well as more traditional woodland management skills. These included:
- Brushcutter and trimmer training
- Maintenance and cross cutting (chainsaw)
- Hurdle making
- Hedge laying
- Continuous woven fencing
- Basic bushcraft, fire making, cordage and foraging
- Coppice management, products and markets
- Hay rake making
- Peg making
- Stakes/binder making
- Charcoal production
- Thatching spars
- Shrink pots
- Gypsy pegs
- Tree felling
- Spoon carving
- Stool and bench building
- Wood turning
210 volunteers trained
Woodland Wild Things Forest School
We offered a six-week free forest school and outdoor education programme in partnership with the National Trust at Fontmell Down, offering opportunities for children to connect with nature, achieve and develop confidence through hands-on learning experiences and to become independent and creative learners.
Activities included:
- Den building
- Safe fire lighting and fire management
- Campfire cooking
- Scavenger hunts
- Woodcraft activities using simple tools and natural resources
- Stories with themes of the natural world
- Sculpture and art using natural materials
128 young people attended sessions