The Trust’s Nature Returns Project, part of its wider Derwent Living Forest landscape recovery programme, was made possible thanks to more than £890,000 in funding from Natural England.
It was one of six pioneering projects across England to receive the funding to trial the most effective ways of tackling the impacts of climate change and assess how carbon is captured and stored across different habitats.
The aim of the Nature Returns project in Derbyshire was to create richer, more resilient habitats while delivering a wide range of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, flood risk reduction, water purification, and increased opportunities for nature connectedness.
Since the project began in January 2023, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has been working with partners to create connected woody habitats between the Northern and National Forests to allow movement of species in response to climate change. It has delivered over 270 hectares of habitat creation and restoration activities within the Derwent Living Forest landscape and developed a pipeline of 800 hectares of new woodland creation projects.
Working with the Environment Agency, the team behind the project is also developing an economically viable programme to support landowners to create and expand dynamic and resilient ecosystems.
Through the project, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers have planted almost 20,000 trees across 20 locations in the catchment, identified over 400 cubic metres of potential surface water storage (equivalent to roughly 12 shipping containers) for natural flood management, and addressed excessive riverbank erosion and sedimentation to create vital habitat for invertebrates and refuge areas for juvenile fish.
At the heart of the project, has been the communities within the catchment. The Trust has worked with nine Parish Councils to develop community led schemes, and has hosted 103 community events, talks and activities with 3,433 people involved.
Staff have visited eleven local schools to deliver practical educational activities to pupils, established ten tree nurseries at schools to provide a local source of trees for future planting, and engaged with 1,351college and university students with the project through career days and tree planting days.
In addition, seven full time traineeships at the Trust were supported through the project, alongside 622 volunteers who have completed 3,310 volunteering hours to support the project work plan, all whilst connecting them with nature.
