On a Sunday in March 2000, I witnessed with a joyous heart thousands of Galwegians of all ages enter a bare field beside the Quincentenary Bridge and leave behind a forest.
History was made on that day as families, students, scouts, environmentalists, company employees, active retirement associations, residents associations, artists, politicians, trainee Garda, schools, youth groups, council staff and others came together to begin the development of the Terryland Forest Park project, the largest and most ambitious urban native woodland project in Ireland formed from a community-state-local government partnership.
It was a zoned area of 180 acres stretching from Terryland Castle to near Castlegar Castle officially labelled the ‘Lungs of the City’ which its supporters also described then in terms that have since become part of everyday lexicon- ‘carbon sink’, ‘people’s park’, ‘ecological corridor’, ‘wildlife sanctuary’, ‘Outdoor Classroom’, ‘Arts in Nature’ space, ‘socially inclusive’ with an ‘access-for-all’ infrastructure.
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Brendan Smith.
On the first Sunday in January 2021 I stood in the same location to witness with a broken heart what I can only describe as a scene of destruction – burnt out remains of some of those trees that were planted in the soil as little saplings nearly 21 years before, fencing, gates, and river lifebuoy holders ripped off their moorings and broken up to be used as fuel for fires, rubbish strewn across paths/woods, and a group of very intoxicated drinkers blocking a public right of way.
'We need a coordinated approach of all appropriate agencies and NGOs to rectify this immediately and to help stop similar situations arising in the future'
For over a week, the area has become a No Go Zone for other users of the park who are now understandably too frightened to use this section with incidents of harassment and the threat of violence having taken place. The disappearance of trees and the appearance of cans, bottles and other human detritus across the forest floor has also meant the loss of homes for precious wildlife.
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This was not the legacy that those who took part in what we called the first ‘Plantathon’, and those who volunteered in subsequent years to nurture the forest park and assist the council, ever expected.
Action needs to be taken
Something has gone terribly wrong. Action needs to be undertaken in order to safeguard our city’s living natural heritage.
Public parks exist for everyone’s enjoyment. Visitor safety, litter-free, dog poo free and alcohol-free environments should be prerequisite criteria. Today in a section of Terryland Forest Park and in parks elsewhere across the city, this is sadly not the case.
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As a caring society, we need to face up to and humanely solve issues of homelessness, alcohol/substance abuse and to give support without question to those most in need. Likewise we should not allow public space to be denied to the general public, or a wildlife sanctuary to be desecrated or to watch helplessly as public facilities are destroyed.
It is to their credit that councillors (Niall McNeilis and Martina O’Connor ), council staff, An Garda Síochána and community activists have appeared onsite over the last week. COPE and council social services have been notified. But nothing has changed. We desperately need a coordinated approach of all appropriate agencies and NGOs to rectify this immediately and to help stop similar situations arising in the future.
Urgency
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COVID has shown to us not only the urgency of upgrading and integrating walking and cycling into the urban infrastructure but also the vital role that green and blue spaces have in improving our wellbeing, in protecting biodiversity and in controlling climate. Local parks were our saviours during the lockdowns.
They gave us tranquil places to relax, to play, to picnic, to walk the dogs, and to soothe the soul as we listened to the sounds of the birds and bees, enjoyed the sights of flowers in bloom or of rabbits playfully chasing each other across a meadow. Reconnecting with the rest of nature was a positive outcome of the pandemic that we should not lose. We need to protect these natural areas now more than ever and to realise that henceforth they should be seen as an essential part of the fabric of cities.
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So a network of city-wide interconnecting waterways, greenways, meadows and woods should be established for a post-COVID Galway to serve as outdoor classrooms for schools, outdoor labs for colleges, community organic gardens for neighbourhoods, green gyms and green prescriptions for our wellbeing, ‘boreens’ for walking and cycling, and protected habitats and green highways for wildlife. This is the central tenet of the new movement to make Galway a National Park City that has gathered wide cross-sectoral support locally, including business corporations, schools and communities, and for which President Michael D Higgins is patron.
'Unsightly large refuse black bags in the parks need to be replaced by permanent waste containers at their entrances'
In this new rejuvenated Galway we should transform the Dyke Road into a major green/blue hub that would be the envy of any other city in Europe. It is not only from which radiates the Terryland Forest Park and a Corrib waterways that stretches to Mayo, but it will be from where the Connemara Greenway begins once the green light is given for constructing a bridge over the old railway pillars, a boreen network that emanates out to the rural hinterland of Coolough, Menlo, Carrowbrowne and beyond, and a new greenway to Headford. The abandoned 19th century waterworks located along the Terryland River should be revamped as a forest/waterways visitors’ interpretative centre complete with gallery, café, toilets, cycle hire and repair shop.
Need for full-time staff
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Terryland Forest Park is a wonderful mix of habitats teeming with wildlife that is a credit to the efforts of council and volunteers over the years. But unlike Dublin, there is no dedicated full time parks’ wardens and parks’ maintenance staff section in Galway which Merlin, Barna and Terryland parks require by their very size. The current grounds staff, though fantastic hard-working concerned friendly people, are very few in number, are not assigned to specific parks but rather have to move back and forth between the dozens of public green spaces located across the city.
'The goodwill from the wider community of Galway and from local residents living adjacent to the park means that recruitment for volunteers should be high'
The unsightly large refuse black bags in the parks need to be replaced by permanent waste containers at their entrances (which is expected to be implemented soon on a pilot basis ). Due to COVID restrictions, the once regular litter picks by volunteers have been cancelled.
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A catalyst for positive change?
The absence of parks wardens and of regular maintenance as well as of the presence of on-the-ground activities by groups of volunteers in the park in 2020 has allowed anti-social activity to creep in.
Community activists have been lobbying over many years for sufficient permanent staff to undertake the daily upkeep and cleaning required in each major park and for the establishment of a unit of volunteer park rangers to act as visitor guides and to undertake a range of biodiversity projects in Terryland and elsewhere. The goodwill from the wider community of Galway and from local residents living adjacent to the park means that recruitment for volunteers should be high.
Hopefully the problems that are now occurring will become the catalyst for positive change and allow us to reclaim the parks for all of our people and for that vast varieties of wildlife that call it home.
Let the message on the large display board that was placed above the bridge entrance to the Terryland Forest Park in March 2000 be a clarion call to all city dwellers: “Grow with Us! Citizens of Galway, This is Your Park. Take Ownership of the city’s Urban Cultural Woodland…”
Le gach dea ghuí.
