Project Update 3 at Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve
How We Can Protect Knocksink
The Community Engagement Project
The Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve is an area of unique beauty that is both a nature reserve and an SAC (Special Area of Conservation). This is our third and final article update for the Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve.
(read our overview of the project here, our first update here, and our second update here)
In this article, we’re sharing our final video on this project, all about How We Can Protect Knocksink.
Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve is an area of unique beauty that brings happiness to its many visitors each year. It is also an area that faces more than its fair share of threats and difficulties. Located beside the Wicklow town of Enniskerry on the Dublin border, it is highly accessible to much of the populations of both Wicklow and Dublin. With such a large number of visitors, the threat of negative environmental impacts to the nature reserve are bound to increase. This is why this location was so perfect to work on as a Community Engagement Project.
A Community Engagement Project is more than just the event days and activities that we all take part in. It’s about creating changes and educating moments that can have long lasting and far reaching effects – so that even when the project officially ends, there will be people equipped to carry the ethos and ethics of the project onwards.
In the video below, we look at four different aspects of the forest: foraging and the wild garlic that grows there; how to remove graffiti from trees; the positives of ivy; and our rare species, like the yellow arch angle.
Ivy is often thought to be a plant that can strangle trees or other plant life – and while things like this can happen, it’s not a guaranteed outcome of ivy being on a tree. This creeping plant is actually a whole habitat in itself, as well as providing flowers and berries on the shoulder seasons, which is super important for pollinators and birds. In Knocksink it’s been noticed that someone has cut the ivy on every tree. Actions like this can often be well meaning, but have negative impacts on the overall health of the ecosystem.
Knocksink Wood Nature Reserve is managed by the NPWS, who have rangers that oversee multiple areas like this one. If you’re in the woods and see something that you think needs caring for, the best approach is to talk with a ranger and see what is good for the forest.
While not all areas in Ireland have a ranger, there are a variety of people that you can talk to about caring and respecting our different environments and habitats. Some organisations and people that might be useful to think of contacting include:
- Coillte
- Rural Recreational Officers
- Local Stakeholder Groups
- National Parks & Wildlife Service
- Waterways Ireland
- Inland Fisheries Ireland
Podcast
As part of this project, we’ve recorded our first ever Leave No Trace Ireland Podcast series. These episodes will be coming out in September! Stay tuned for information on where you can subscribe, listen along, and share with whoever you think would enjoy learning about how to protect the environment around us.
