Young people gain conservation skills with the Lost Woods project

Mark Whitaker, Lost Woods Community Development Worker, is leading our Conservation for All project. He explains how the sessions are bringing new groups into the woods and teaching them valuable skills.

If you’ve not spent time out in woodlands doing conservation tasks, how would you know what it feels like? Our Conservation for All project gives groups of people who wouldn’t otherwise try conservation, the chance to find out.

This autumn we’ve been working with 15 students and their tutors from Plumpton College, to teach them different conservation skills. The 16-and 17-year-olds are on the Foundation Learning course, where they receive extra support in their first year at college to boost their chances on the courses they choose next.

At each session we've been visiting a new location to learn new skills. A few weeks ago we were at Ditchling Common with the East Sussex ranger, coppicing willow to allow it to regenerate while bringing light to the plants below. Cathy, Liz and myself were there from the Lost Woods team to host and support. The group worked in teams to safely bring down some quite chunky stems and then gather and process what had been cut down. The ranger had a fire going to reduce the amount of brash left in piles and by the end of the session we were all really impressed with how much the group had achieved.

And it was great to see the students working so well together. Each session we see them becoming more engaged, giving more energy and having more confidence. As well as practicing new skills, they are learning about the value of managing and caring for woodland.

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Importantly though too, they are experiencing the wellbeing benefits of being active in nature, contributing to a shared task to help the woodland, and gaining increased confidence about what they can achieve successfully. They talk about enjoying using the tools, practicing their teamwork skills and communicating better.

Their tutor Simon McGill says that the conservation tasks are the students’ favourite part of the week, as the group enjoy being out in the woods and often report that they feel better after spending time in nature. It certainly feels like it is a valuable contribution to their learning. And we enjoy it too.

Woodland owners and managers also really appreciate having the college students come out. After we spent a morning on land managed by the Hurst Woodland Flora and Fauna Group, their Chair Michael Nailard said: “The Plumpton College students worked very hard and achieved a lot. It has made such a difference to our progress at this site. These students were helpful and co-operative and really assisted us with our nature conservation task at this location.”

The College will be organising their own conservation sessions after working with the Lost Woods project, using the new community contacts they have made.

We are looking forward to supporting more groups that might benefit in our Conservation for All project in the new year. We’re keen to hear from community groups in the Lost Woods area who would like to get involved – in particular any who would be unlikely to get involved in conservation without our input.

Do get in touch if you are part of an interested group or if you have a woodland where we could help out.