A Cwmbran woodland that was closed after trees were vandalised and a path turned into a bicycle track has reopened.
During October, Cwmbran Life was invited to see work taking place in Garw Wood in Croesyceiliog.
Staff from Torfaen Council and Bron Afon (who own the woods) have placed large logs to stop bikes and created a natural footpath covered in woodchip.
The area was closed in June 2024 after large holes were dug exposing and damaging the roots of several mature trees. Some old trees had been ‘ring barked’- where bark is cut away from the entire circumference of a tree. This affects how water and nutrients keep the tree alive.
During the visit, officers on the site pointed out how the temporary closure of the woods had led to the return of wildlife and plants and fungi being spotted. Now they want to encourage people to start visiting and enjoying the woods.
Mark Burchell, Bron Afon’s specialist team leader (Trees), said: “There’s been a lot of planning going on in the background, with Torfaen, Bron Afon, working together as a partnership.
“We’re looking at planting some native trees and hedges along the woodland just to encourage the wildlife back. There’s been a lot of damage over the last couple of months in the summer. It’s nice to be able to give a bit back.
“The pathway is installed just to give people an idea of where to walk, keep people on the pathway, let the woodland regenerate, let it recover. It’s had a bit of a battering over the last couple of months.
“We want to get the local residents involved to highlight the importance of the woodland. It’s classed as an ancient woodland. People can come in and enjoy it as long as there is no damage.”
Cllr Jo Gauden, Croesyceiliog Ward, said: “We’ve got a few elderly residents who are really passionate about this wood. They show us lots of evidence of what the wood used to look like.
“They’ve kept records of the wildlife and the types of trees that were in here.
“This is a really good example of how Bron Afon and Torfaen are working together because today we’ve got our officer Kristen Thobroe, and Mark from Bron Afon here.
“Kristen was saying he’s made contact with some schools so Crownbridge School are going to be doing an activity here. I’m going to make contact with Croesyceiliog Primary just to see if we can get the children over here doing some activities, just to nurture some passion for the ancient woodlands.
“Although it’s tiny, it’s small but mighty. I’ve been shown today different types of fungi I didn’t know existed and haven’t seen before.”
Kristen said: “I work for Places for Nature as our local delivery officer so my job is to make sure people can find local nature spaces and they’re accessible and looked after and improved.
“So all we ever want to do is improve biodiversity and improve access to nature.
“Unfortunately a while ago there was some damage done [in Garw Woods] because people didn’t understand this is an important piece of ancient woodland that needs to be looked after.
“So the project has involved putting the dead wood logs in at each end, which will stop vehicular access but also encourage fungus which is already growing and solitary bees and minor bees and other pollinators.
“We’ve put a new path in so people can still enjoy the woodland. We don’t want to fence it off, we just don’t want people driving through it.”