The youth-led project successfully restoring nature

More than 7,000 trees planted, more than 138 acres of land restored, a thousand metres of river cleaned up and the presence of one of the UK’s rarest and threatened birds increased five-fold.

None of this, however, was actually the aim of a project that started as an idea among friends who wanted to do tangible work to improve the environment and nature.

Cynical about the difficulty faced by young people trying to get involved with nature, conservation and environmental schemes, friends Noah Bennett and Jack Durant founded Youngwilders, a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates small-scale, youth-led nature recovery projects across the UK.

Noah and Jack had a raft of educational and qualification merits, but were finding it difficult to access practical opportunities in the sector beyond campaigning or protesting.

“We would do a volunteer day at the local wildlife trust and be the only young people there,” explains Noah. “We were a little bit like zoo animals – people would think, ‘Why are you here?’ They were lovely, but you tended not to go back.”

They soon discovered they weren’t the only ones, making contact with other like-minded young people around the country. The first Youngwilders project started in 2019; since then, it has worked on 10 projects in six counties, involving 547 young people. This has resulted in more than 138 acres of land being put into recovery, 7,020 trees and a kilometre of hedgerows planted and 1.3km of river restored.

“When we started off, it was selfinterest,” says Noah. “We just wanted to, as a group of friends, do some nature recovery work. We started shouting about young people and nature work on the internet and eventually it convinced a landowner in West Sussex to let us have a go on her farm.”

The landowner had a 40-acre smallholding for retired horses and sheep but wanted to phase it out, as the site had become difficult for her to manage. She agreed that Youngwilders could take it on as its first site, and Maple Farm has since become a showcase project.

Over the last four years, Youngwilders has created a mosaic of grassland, woodland and wetland at the farm, increasing wildflowers, insects, mammals and birds. The number of breeding pairs of nightingales on the site have increased from one to five.

The landowners and farmers with whom Youngwilders work are from different backgrounds, making for interesting relationships between them and the young people. The group’s work comes at a time when more than 80% of UK young people say they are eager to take action to recover nature, but just one in five think they are being listened to on environmental issues.

“It is a really interesting relationship,” says Noah. “Part of the work that I really like is working on those partnerships. As much as we want out of it, they do as well. They have ambitions for nature recovery on their land and want to fulfil it.”

This is true for landowner Patrick Bushnell, who owns a 20-acre site in Essex. For the last two years, Youngwilders has worked across 12 acres to maintain hedges, grazing land and a stream, and has planted 1,500 trees.

“I bought the land three years ago for a family house,” says Patrick. “I was planning to do a wilding project – that is also partly why I bought it – but I wouldn’t have been able to do the work they are doing for me.

“It is brilliant that I have been able to find them and they have been able to do the work. I am happy to work with them for as long as they are happy to continue.”

Patrick hopes other landowners see the difference that Youngwilders is making in terms of both environmental benefits and opportunities for young people, and that it will lead to more projects: “I would like to help them achieve that.”

Noah’s favourite project isn’t the biggest, but has made the most difference. “We are creating 20 acres of woodland in Essex,” he explains. “The previous land use was a hay meadow, but it was such bad quality – they were just cutting and burning it. Now we have planted 2,000 trees, 200 young people come to that site, there are grazing animals. It has transformed that patch of land from completely useless to a space for nature and young people.”

When Youngwilders started, Noah never envisaged that it would drive change for young people working in nature and environment sectors, or that it would break down social barriers. The group is building a network of young people across the country via social media and outreach work at youth clubs and educational establishments. Others have been signposted to Youngwilders by organisations such as the mental health charity Mind, if it is felt that they could benefit from being in nature. Some participants have never spent time in the countryside before.

Youngwilders pay participants’ travel and equipment costs, with these expenses covered by Countryside Stewardship schemes, fundraising, and grants and donations from local authorities and environmental bodies.

“There are a lot of problems for young people in the sector,” says Noah. “If you want a job in conservation or nature recovery, you need to have done voluntary work – but there aren’t that many organisations, and kids can’t afford or don’t have a car to be able to get to places. We are trying to break down some of those barriers.

“I hope there will be more movements like this. Our overall vision for the next three years is to have projects around the country so a young person is no more than an hour away from a youth-led nature recovery project.”

Visit youngwilders.org or contact noah@youngwilders.uk to find out more.