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Friends of Big Wood Nature Reserve Association is formed to help safeguard, preserve and protect this ancient woodland.
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Friends of Big Wood work closely with Barnet, who own the Big Wood Nature Reserve, by organising work days to maintain the glades in the wood, clear excessive invasive species, and preserve and protect the flora and fauna.
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Friends of Big Wood also have regular work days when volunteers help with general maintenance, clear up and preservation, for example by creating natural log barriers to the designated paths to stop the ancient woodland being disturbed and encourage the growth of natural species and stop the disturbance to the natural habitat which is so very important to Big Wood.
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FRIENDS OF BIGWOOD GROUP ROOTS.
You may all be interested in how the Friends of Big Wood started. Its origin goes back to the 1990s when Council officials were keen to get locals involved and there were a small band of locals who were passionately interested in preserving the ancient wood remnant. Originally the Committee was run by Barnet Council with a Councillor chairing meetings. However the initiative gradually fizzled out by 2005.
In 2010 there was a group of us who were worried the wood was being neglected due the increasing cut back of Council resources and a group of Volunteers was formed to carry out some work in the wood under the direction of a Council official. We were fortunate that the Council Official responsible Paul Frainer was an expert in woodland management and he helped us draw up a five year plan and apply for a forestry commission grant to replaced signage, produce a leaflet and purchase saplings and bird boxes. When Paul left Barnet, the Volunteers took on more work and produced a follow up 5 year plan which was approved by Barnet. Encouraged by Barnet, we then took the further step to create our own organisation -the Friends of Big Wood organisation. We decided there would be a small annual subscription so we could purchase some more equipment (i.e. bat bases etc), commission surveys and pay for experts to lead guided walks and give evening talks.
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A great article was written by Peter Falk on the formation of Friends of Bigwood and published in the Suburb News
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About Friends of Bigwood
The Association is a watchdog for the welfare of the Suburb and acts as a strong pressure group. It conveys the views of its members to the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, to the Borough of Barnet and to Government on a wide range of Suburb issues including conservation.
The London Tree Partnership aims to protect the capital's trees and encourage individual Londoners, businesses and organisations to plant more trees. The Mayor also wants to protect London's woodlands and associated wildlife and make London a greener, more attractive city.
Hampstead Garden Suburb is located in North West London, England, approximately 7 miles from the centre of London. Founded in 1907 by Dame Henrietta Barnett, it is internationally recognised as one of the finest examples of early twentieth century domestic architecture and town planning, and home to approximately 13,000 people
Barnet has a great collection of parks and open spaces and these are an important part of what makes Barnet
a green and family friendly borough. People who live and work in Barnet enjoy access to formal parks and gardens, wild
landscapes, extensive areas of greenbelt
and leafy river valleys.
We're here to stand up for trees.
Because we all need trees. To live. To work. To play. To explore.
We want to see a UK rich in woods and trees, enjoyed and valued by everyone.
But we can't achieve our vision alone.
Our mission is to protect and expand forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment.
We deliver distinct forestry policies through specific objectives drawn from the country forestry strategies.