---- Maintaining and Improving Troopers Hill ----
2012 Management Plan
Since 2007 management of Troopers Hill has been carried out in accordance with a management plan agreed between Bristol Parks and Friends of Troopers Hill. The plan was adopted in January 2007 and it was agreed that it should be reviewed every five years. The first review of the plan is now being undertaken and a revised plan will be adopted in January 2012 to cover the period April 2012 to March 2017. It will be available for download from this page soon.
The review of the plan was discussed at the Friends of Troopers Hill Meeting on 10th November and it was agreed that no major changes were required, with the overall aims of the plan remaining as they were in 2007.
Details of the 2007 Management Plan and some of the work carried out on the site during that time can be seen via the link below:
2007 & Earlier Management Plans >>
Plan Aims & Objectives for Wildlife
 The most important habitat on Troopers Hill is the acidic grassland and heathland, this covers the central area of the site and is the core of the reserve and the reason it was created. Acid grassland is a UK priority habitat and together with other 'Species Rich Grasslands' its protection is also one of the aims of the Bristol Biodiversity Action Plan.
Both the 2012 and 2007 Management Plans were put together with advice from Bristol Parks Natural Environment Team and other naturalists in Bristol. In 2007 all agreed that the priority is for this core habitat to be protected and where possible to be restored to areas where the surrounding scrub and woodland had encroached over the previous twenty or more years (see our Old Photographs page).
To achieve this aim it was necessary to remove some of the trees and scrub that had grown in that time, this work was was managed by Bristol Parks and carried out in the winter to avoid the bird nesting season.
The work set out in the 2012 plan continues this principle, there are now few new areas of trees or scrub to clear, the priority is to prevent scrub from re-establishing in areas previously cleared.
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Areas of scrub are being maintained around the outside of the site but these are being managed to prevent them becoming woodland. Between the scrub and the grassland and heathland on some parts of the site are areas of broom. Troopers Hill is the only site in Bristol where broom grows in such profusion. As the hawthorn and bramble has been pushed back broom has re-established itself in some of these areas. However, the broom also needs to be controlled to avoid it spreading too much into the heathland. Some areas currently covered in broom will then be returned to grassland and heathland. This is a reversal of the natural progression that has occurred over the last 20 years where bramble has choked areas of broom and then hawthorn has grown amongst the bramble.
Friends of Troopers Hill have been successful in our Stage 2 application to Groundwork UK for funding from the Big Lottery through their 
