Wildlife Trust Marks 60 Years

This year Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, the leading voice for conservation in the area, celebrates its 60th anniversary. Today, the Trust has more than 23,500 members, more than 1,100 active volunteers supporting its work, and 42 nature reserves spanning the two counties.

Over 60 years, the Trust has been an unwavering advocate for nature and striving to protect our most precious and wild spaces. It has achieved many significant and inspirational wins, including lobbying to make badger digging and baiting illegal, successfully re-introducing water voles to our local rivers, and just last year, it added two new nature reserves to its portfolio, following successful public fundraising campaigns – Astonbury Wood, near Stevenage, and Archers Green, near Welwyn.

This is, however, no time for the Trust to rest on its laurels. Its Hertfordshire State of Nature Report (2020) shows the stark reality of nature’s decline, identifying 20 per cent of species assessed at risk of extinction. However, there is hope in the value of the Trust’s partnerships, and in shared aims for progressive projects all working towards its ambition to see at least 30 per cent of land across the area connected and protected for nature’s recovery by 2030.

To find out more about the work of the Trust and how you can support wildlife in crisis, visit www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk.

Image © Terry Whitakker 2020