Mormons scrub up well

9:28am Friday 27th October 2006

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YOUNG Mormons from all over southern England helped clear encroaching scrub from a large part of Bricket Wood Common on Saturday.

Mark Carter of the Countryside Management Service said: "When we received an offer of volunteer help from the Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints church, we didn't quite envisage 140 young people arriving in Bricket Wood, all keen to get involved in some practical habitat management.

"Full of enthusiasm and energy, they set about clearing hundreds of small birch trees which have invaded large areas of Bricket Wood Common.

"They helped to restore the heathland habitat to its former glory and had a good deal of fun in the process.

"Lowland heath like Bricket Wood Common is a rare and declining habitat containing a specialised group of plants and animals including heathers, sedges and bog mosses, reptiles and amphibians.

"In Hertfordshire there has been a dramatic 97 per cent loss of heathland since 1940, largely because of the decline of traditional management practices like grazing."