Yorkshire Dales National Park – Sustainable Development Fund

December 2015

The aim of this project in 2015 was to control /remove Invasive Non-Native Species along the watercourses in the area of the Lune catchment which falls within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Working with a small group of volunteers we mapped Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam and then organised and supported volunteer days in the Sedbergh area to remove the Himalayan Balsam. We also paid a local contractor to spray the Japanese Knotweed identified in the area. The project included lots of youth engagement – training events with local schools, Lawkland Young Farmers in the Upper Wenning and two very successful balsam bashes with the Yorkshire Dales youth group Mosaic who cleared a whole infested beck in record time!

Thanks to further funding from the YDNPA our Parish Wildlife project enabled us to continue the work into 2016 and expand into the new YDNP areas. We supported further volunteer training and work parties, school visits with practical days, the mapping of the smaller tributaries to find the highest point of Himalayan Balsam infestation, updated our maps in the aftermath of the floods of December 2015 and funded the local contractor to return to the Japanese Knotweed sites and respray any returning growth.

Our thanks also go to Cumbria County Council for their support towards the cost of the Japanese Knotweed spraying.