Who: The project was hosted by third sector organisation Welcome to our Woods, in Treherbert in the Upper Rhondda valley.
The brief: The aim was to give the community a voice about the forests that extend around their community and up to the skyline, which they traditionally have little involvement with, as it is part of the Welsh Government’s woodland estate managed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW). The community would come together as a co-design group, and in partnership with NRW’s forest resource planners, they would define their vision for the use of, and proposed activities in, their surrounding forest, for the next 50 to 100 years; this would inform the statutory forest plans, and decisions about the exploitation of natural forestry resources.
What I did: I was one of the 2 facilitators working on the project. Our role was to support the recruitment of a diverse range of community members and stakeholders; and to design and facilitate a series of 10 co-design sessions in a way that was engaging, accessible to all, and ensured that everyone was heard. We used a combination of in-person and online sessions, and were led by what worked best for the group’s comfort and engagement. Providing the community with information and expert knowledge on forest management to inform their vision and recommendations also involved bringing in other NRW teams (Forestry, Operations, Healthy Hillsides), and expert speakers from environmental organisations on topics such as Nature and Climate Change, Landscape as a Social Resource, and Forest as a Commercial Resource.
The results: The process and the outcomes of the community’s co-design work (the Future Forest Vision) were captured through a range of media: they were presented as a film, as a multi-media digital story platform, and as physical exhibits, to the wider community of the Upper Rhondda, to policy makers, and to other communities looking to learn from this project. You can watch the film here (22’15”).
Image credit: opening frame of the project video by Mud and Thunder