Get involved!

Gair Wood benefits hugely from local community volunteering. During the woodland's design process, public consultations were held so that everyone could get involved and have their voices heard. During planting, volunteers were instrumental to high quality data collection and planted approximately 10% of trees on site. Now, the important work of our volunteers is helping Gair Wood to grow and establish as a biodiverse woodland for people and nature.

There are plenty of ways to get involved with Gair Wood but usually the best first step is to email the team at [email protected]. Check out the list below for some of the ways to get involved at the woodland:

 

Regular volunteering (Friends of Gair Wood)

Our monthly sessions with the Friends of Gair Wood allow us to complete important practical conservation tasks that would not be possible without some extra helping hands. Tasks vary with seasonal needs throughout the year to help improve habitats and biodiversity across the site. So far, tasks have included sapling maintenance, hedgerow planting, wildlife surveys, building a hibernaculum, and grass management to improve conditions for wildflowers.

To get involved with our monthly sessions and hear when new dates are confirmed, please sign up to our mailing list. If you would like any additional information (e.g. to discuss accessibility needs) please email [email protected] so that we can help support your involvement.

 

Events

Outside of regular volunteering, the Gair Wood team host occasional one-off volunteering events. These events typically target urgent needs or environmental celebrations. Keep an eye out for them through the University’s Sustainability Service, our Eventbrite account, or (to be notified whenever opportunities are available) sign up to our mailing list.

 

Larger groups & Corporate Volunteering

For groups of more than 5 people, please get in touch ensure that everyone can be accommodated. We can typically offer half- and full-day bespoke volunteering sessions for larger and corporate groups. Enquiries can be made via email at [email protected].

 

Collaboration and research

Gair Wood is a site for research and teaching for the University of Leeds and beyond. Several long-term experiments are built into the design of the woodland to examine the effect of tree diversity and natural colonisation of tree seedlings, and we coordinate a year-round monitoring program of the soil and ecology on site. If you are a colleague from a  university or research institute who would like to collaborate, or are a student looking for a site for their dissertation, then please contact [email protected] and our research team would be happy to discuss possibilities.