BGU Grant F'back 2024 Firwood

Friends of Firwood | Monday 11 March 2024 | 0 Comments

Thank-you so much BGU for the £200 grant for Friends of Firwood, which will enable us to continue to work with John Frazer and Bradshaw Fly Fishing Volunteers in the programme to eradicate INNS in the woodlands behind Firwood Fold, and along Bradshaw Brook.

In 2023 John was kind enough to do this FOC as part of his massive voluntary programme to eradicate Japanese Knotweed along Bradshaw Brook all the way from Jumbles. However there is still more JKW that he didn’t have time for last autumn and it is right at the bottom of houses on Brailsford Road. It will continue to spread and if it gets into people’s gardens it is a massive problem for them.

John is willing to come back this autumn to finish the job but this time we need to cover his costs – the chemicals are very expensive, plus there is also the cost of protective clothing and equipment which has to be replaced after every event. So we applied on behalf of Friends of Firwood for this grant of £200 from BGU to enable John to get rid of the dreaded JKW. Local residents have made very supportive comments of this on Facebook.

Friends of Firwood volunteers have been tackling Himalayan Balsam (HB) for a number of years, with help from John’s group and from Bolton Conservation Volunteers, with great success. There is now very little HB, and the only reason there are some patches left is because they are inaccessible, on very steep embankments and/or surrounded by brambles and nettles. So John will be coming back to spray the remaining few stands of Himalayan Balsam which are impossible to reach, so we should then be (virtually) free of INNS (Invasive Non-Native Species) which is a massive achievement.

Thank-you John!