Conservation
Chance to live the eco-dream - Jackie Field holds out a helping hand to environmentally-conscious smallholders
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| BTCV's volunteer programmes enable people of all ages and backgrounds to make a difference to the environment |
MOST smallholders want to manage their land in an environmentally-friendly way. But achieving environmental and commercial sustainability is often more difficult than you might imagine.
You need the right rural skills for essential maintenance tasks such as repairs to paths and gates, livestock boundaries, hedgerows and stone walls. But even armed with the know-how, can you find the time to do the work? Add in longer-term conservation tasks - like the removal of invasive species, pond clearance or woodland maintenance - and the dream of sustainability can turn into a nightmare.
So where do you get the skills and extra hands to make the environmental dream come true? BTCV, the UK's largest practical conservation charity, offers both. Founded in 1959, with more than 20 regional offices, the charity helps more than 140,000 volunteers every year to take hands-on action to improve both the rural and urban environment
What does this mean for you?
Expert know-how: To begin with, BTCV offers a way to build your personal skills and knowledge. BTCV runs one-day courses throughout the UK on all aspects of rural skills and conservation. So if you want to learn how - and why - to lay a hedge, fell a tree safely, create a boardwalk, identify birds, plants or fungi, build a pond or manage an invasion of scrub, BTCV can help. All courses are tailored to suit the needs of those attending; the leader will be a local expert and trained to teach. Courses start at £25 for the day and can be booked from BTCV's online store at www.btcv.org.
Browsing the store reveals other items useful to smallholders: practical books on topics like dry stone walling, hedge-laying, health and safety and tool care (with some available as free downloads), specialist tools (need a monkey wire strainer, manure drag or a Yorkshire billhook...?), protective clothing, trees, shrubs and wildflowers. BTCV even offers eco-friendly animal bedding made from recycled cardboard at http://www.brown-stuff.org.uk.
Practical help: BTCV is above all a way to get extra hands to help make your small holding environmentally sustainable.
Its volunteer programmes enable people of all ages and backgrounds to make a difference to the environment while gaining experience and training in practical conservation techniques. The charity finds that a group of enthusiastic volunteers can do a surprising amount of work in a very short time, claiming that 10 volunteers can plant 1,000 trees or create 200 metres of footpath in a day. They're often local people, so strengthening your ties to the local community. BTCV provides all tools, transport, fully trained leaders and insurance. Charges to you cover costs such as insurance, first aid training for leaders and transport. Tasks normally last a day, but BTCV's Natural Break conservation holidays can put a team on site for a week.
All BTCV groups try to be flexible when discussing work with clients, mindful of bird, insect and animal breeding seasons, and the growing times of trees and plants. They will comply with existing management plans or can advise on how to draw them up. The work is discussed with you as fully as possible in advance, along with access, disposal of materials, and any possible additional work; sometimes a variety of smaller tasks can be undertaken at the same time.
Making it real: BTCV Cornwall provides a snapshot of the work typically carried out for site owners across the UK. Their programme of one-day tasks runs three or four days a week. Volunteers meet up at 9am and work until 4pm, with lunch and tea breaks. They bring their own packed lunches. BTCV provides leadership, transport, tools, safety equipment and training. In the past year, work has included:
Cleared overgrowth and mud to reveal a Victorian well
Repaired and re-laid Cornish hedges
Replaced broken gates, re-dug steps and added new edges to woodland paths
Removed invasive species such as sycamore, rhododendron and Spanish bluebells
Lit and unloaded a charcoal burner
Thinned out woodland and re-planted oaks
Removal of ragwort before grazing or hay-making
The main contact point for anyone interested in help from BTCV is 01302 388 883, e-mail information@btcv.org.uk or via www.btcv.org which has a list of local offices.
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