£800,000 partner scheme improves land for nature and climate resilience across the New Forest  

£800,000 partner scheme improves land for nature and climate resilience across the New Forest  

Land equivalent to 147 football pitches has been improved for nature and climate resilience across 27 sites in the New Forest thanks to a multi-partner scheme led by the New Forest National Park Authority.

The Green and Blue Horizons from city to Forest scheme involving five organisations has now finished after 18 months.

Its £800,000 investment into the New Forest brought thousands of people together to extend nature networks and create wildlife-rich corridors that link National Park habitats to neighbouring towns and cities.

Areas of grassland, woodland, hedgerows, streams and ponds have been improved, and numerous opportunities opened up for people to understand, value and help to care for the landscape.

Across the project,19 jobs were created or retained among the partner organisations: the New Forest National Park Authority; the Countryside Education Trust; Freshwater Habitats Trust; Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust; and New Forest Commoners Defence Association. 75% of these roles have been retained by partners beyond the funded period.

Highlights of the ‘Horizons’ scheme include:

• 105 hectares of land (equivalent to 147 football pitches) improved for nature and climate resilience across 27 sites

This includes Furzey Ground woodland near Lymington where Freshwater Habitats Trust (FHT) removed invasive non-native plants and carried out gentle thinning to create light pockets around wetland features.

Specialist wetland plants now flourish and common darter and golden ringed dragonflies have also returned to the improved areas.

• Expert advice and training given to landowners, farmers and commoners

Partners have worked with networks and clusters of farming, commoning, and landowner groups to help improve landscape-scale resilience.
Advice and training opportunities have included developing the health of freshwaters; ways to improve water quality; bankside and grazing management and species identification. 

• Innovative solutions to protect water quality

The scheme has helped find innovative ways for small rural businesses to protect water quality, reduce reliance on mains water supplies and reduce the amount of water impacting the surrounding areas that leads to nutrient and sediment run-off.

• 115 volunteer events with 235 regular volunteers

FHT worked with volunteers testing the quality of waters in the New Forest. Results show that 85% of waterbody samples are clean, 8% have some pollution and 8% are high pollution.

The New Forest National Park Authority ran more than 100 volunteer events (totalling 4,600 hours) with hundreds of people clearing paths, planting hedgerows, removing invasive plant species, picking litter, carrying out surveys of the Rights of Way network and protecting archaeology features.

• Fort Climate Centre – A new educational hub in the New Forest

The Countryside Education Trust (CET) in Beaulieu opened its new climate centre.

Officially opened in March by HRH The Countess of Wessex (now the Duchess of Edinburgh), the centre is an educational and community-based hub for people of all ages to learn about the New Forest.

The grant is helping develop new climate-focused courses for young adults and professionals, enlarging CET’s volunteering capacity and engaging seven interns in a variety of climate and environment projects.

• Communications role brings national attention to commoning

The New Forest Commoners Defence Association (CDA) created a new dedicated role to raise awareness and communicate key messages about commoning.

Stories on road safety, the importance of cattle, and the work commoners do to protect their animals gained national attention in the press, and across increased social media audiences.

The NPA brought the scheme and partners together and submitted the successful bid to the Government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, which awarded a £540,000 grant plus match funding from partners. It followed on from a previous £4.4 million, five-year Our Past Our Future scheme involving 10 partners and led by the National Park Authority.

Patrick Heneghan, Deputy Chair of the New Forest National Park Authority and Chair of the Green and Blue Horizons Board, said: ‘The scheme has been a huge success, bringing funding to a range of organisations and achieving an impressive amount of conservation and engagement. The 18-month multi-partner scheme kickstarted action to confront the twin climate and nature emergencies with programmes to restore habitats, begin our path towards net zero with nature and help new and diverse audiences connect with the New Forest.

‘It’s a great example of effective partnership working to successfully deliver shared goals.’

The Horizons scheme was funded by the Government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, developed by Defra and its Arm’s-Length Bodies. It was delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England, the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission. 

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Watch on YouTube:

Green and blue horizons from city to Forest scheme – YouTube

Main image: Peter LeCointe