How we can support your community to protect local woodlands and wildlife

Polly Eason, Lost Woods Community Development Worker, on the range of ways that the team can support your community-based action to protect local woodlands and wildlife.

The Lost Woods of the Low Weald and Downs team understand that woodlands are a part of our heritage, and that many people are moved to protect them and support local nature recovery.

Communities have great power to address local issues when they pull together in the same direction.

If there is local ambition to protect and connect woodlands and wildlife, Lost Woods project partner Action in Rural Sussex offers community coaching. The team can support your community-based action, whether it be to tackle a one-off issue, or a long-term project.

How our community-based action coaching can help you

We know that a spark of an idea by a few passionate people can ignite great things. Whether you’re about to start a new campaign or group, or you’re well-established but are needing help with your next steps, our team can assist you in a range of ways.

For example we have helped a local mum with realising her vision of a home education woodland group by offering support and forest school training, we have supported a long-standing group Tottington Woodlanders with a workshop to consider their long-term sustainability, and when Henfield wanted to do a Year of Biodiversity we supported their launch with a Biodiversity talk, guided walks with local experts and bat detectors to listen to their bat neighbours.

We can support you with: 

• Defining your aims or next steps - To bring your community together, you need a strong collective voice and direction – and we can help you with defining your aims or next steps. For example, if you’re hoping to prevent a tree that’s important to your community from being cut down, then we can help you identify the best next steps. We can support you to plan how best to share your ideas in an accessible way, to invite a range of local voices to join the conversation, consider any appropriate expert advice, and can offer publicity via Lost Woods social channels.
• Mapping your community’s skills and resources - Every community is unique. By working collaboratively, communities can call on local skills, resources and knowledge to deliver effective and long-lasting change. We can help you map the strengths and assets your community has, for example skilled or knowledgeable local people – planning experts, a social media whizz, or the person that knows everyone.  Assets could be the resources you can access (printers for example), buildings, or open spaces you can use. We can also support you to identify in what areas you may need to find further support, and we can help you to liaise and network with landowners or other interested parties too.

• Community Engagement - Bringing different opinions to the table early on can strengthen your campaign. Thinking about the needs of local people can help you to reach a broad range of community members. Is there an accessible community building where you can meet, a community noticeboard, a strong Facebook group, or a local language barrier to consider? Sometimes professional advice, presentations, or training may be useful to kickstart or inform conversations. We can support you with community consultation events, recruitment of volunteers, and with collecting ideas and feedback from your community in a consistent and meaningful way.
• Project Planning - There are a range of resources and organisations that can help you with planning your campaign or project, depending on your aims. All projects will require someone - or ideally some people - with the time and drive to do some basic coordination. This includes considerations of safety, permissions or data protection if you are collecting contacts for project promotion. Campaigning or a basic local activity does not require much more than that, becoming long-term custodians of community assets will require greater planning. We can support you with understanding and meeting legal requirements such as Risk Assessments, First Aid training or Safeguarding considerations.
• Resources - Money, land and equipment may well be required for your project, as will people with capacity and / or skills to carry out essential roles. Good communications, record keeping and forward thinking can make sure this is done equitably and enable project sustainability.  We can support community groups with fundraising for tools and equipment, and signpost landowners looking at grant funding.
• Community Culture - Working in a respectful and fair way makes working in community empowering and sustainable. A healthy community culture will be essential if you want to deliver a more ambitious long-term project. This includes things such as -
  • Regular accessible conversation spaces
  • Good group communications including active listening and an agreed decision-making process
  • Keeping notes of agreed action points
  • Professional guidance when appropriate - we can offer training and support you with this and considering the pros and cons of constituting or incorporation, should your aims require it

Get in touch

If you are interested in speaking to us about your idea, would like support with community engagement, or want to kickstart community conversations with a meeting about the nature and biodiversity in and around your community, please get in touch by emailing lostwoodsteam@ruralsussex.org.uk.

If you think that local woodland or trees are under threat, you can find support from Lost Woods project partner The Woodland Trust, via their Woods Under Threat team.

‍