I


t costs us over £700,000 to manage our nature reserves annually. At present over £500,000 of this comes from EU Higher Level Stewardship and Basic Payment Schemes that will no longer be available after Brexit. It is currently unclear


what will replace the EU schemes – we need to prepare for potentially lower funding levels in the future.


If we are going to reverse decline and put nature into recovery we need to challenge ourselves to understand where we can best invest our time, effort and resources to have the greatest impact. To fully restore natural processes that better manage flood water, absorb carbon and provide space for wildlife, nature reserves cannot function in isolation.


We must increase the amount and quality of wild places and ensure that they are joined up, allowing wildlife to thrive and travel freely across wildlife- rich landscapes. Creating space for nature allows populations of species to thrive. We only focus on an individual species when they are particularly at risk and we are clear we can have an impact by intervening.


If we are going to succeed in restoring the natural environment at the scale and at the pace necessary, we are going to have to change some of the ways we operate and we want to know your thoughts. Our nature reserves are vital core areas in the landscape but they are increasingly isolated as the biodiversity of the surrounding land deteriorates. We will have to decide whether to invest our time and resources in protecting isolated sites or focus on improving the wider landscape to improve the number of species everywhere; we can do this through increased advice services, delivering improvements on third party land and by buying low quality land for biodiversity and allowing nature to return.


Where should Somerset Wildlife Trust invest our resources to have the greatest impact for wildlife in Somerset?


How would you rank these in order of priority?


• Managing our current nature reserves. • Prioritising our work on the most biodiverse yet most threatened landscapes.


• Focusing our work in the wider landscape outside of the protected sites where there is greater opportunity to increase biodiversity.


• Buying low quality land for biodiversity near to our reserves and let nature return.


• Working at a landscape scale, engaging landowners to manage their sites for wildlife and connecting spaces for nature.


• Supporting, inspiring and engaging others (individuals, businesses, farmers, community groups) to manage their land to benefit wildlife.


• Provide delivery services to other landowners to improve their land for biodiversity.


• Supporting and engaging with the areas that have the most outstanding wildlife such as National Parks and AONBs that have their own convening authorities.


• Prioritising work where no other leadership body (ie. AONB or National Park) is currently working.


7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16