Last duty

I have just finished my last formal duty as a Councillor, chairing the Local Biodiversity Action Plan steering group.

Amongst the topics being discussed and taken forward was the development on local nurseries to produce native woodland stock. The entire stock of 25,000 stems per annum has already been pre-sold for use on the island.

We were also told about three sites that are being trialled for small-scale (domestic) biomass projects using a mix of alder, sycamore, poplar and willow to determine the viability of different sites and different ground conditions in a long term project that might take seven to ten years to produce any result. The trees will be planted to what are effectively lazy beds, indicating that our ancestors knew how to look after the ground and encourage development in a sustainable way - something we must learn from.