It was announced today that Craig Bennett from FoE will take over from Steph Hilborne at the Wildlife Trust’s Head Office in Newark. Congratulations to him!
But it’s a challenging role. It’s not as though you are in any way ‘in charge’ of all the individual county and country Wildlife Trusts (47 of them, is it?). You have more dependence on them for your central funding than they do on you. And, of course, this structure makes it incredibly difficult to spend money on UK priorities because the money has to be spent locally, and it doesn’t come in in proportion to the conservation need.
Although the Wildlife Trusts always say that their strength is in their local knowledge of issues and people I’ve never been very convinced by that. Here in Beds, Cambs and Northants (an amalgam of disparate although adjacent counties) our local Wildlife Trust was very slow in coming forward to play a significant role in Fineshade Woods and then there was that unnecessary and misjudged comment from them on Hen Harriers a few years back. The Wildlife Trust boards of trustees are rather heavy with vested landed interests too.
Getting any sort of agreed UK view on an issue is difficult enough, but deciding the priority issues is quite difficult when many trusts are either upland or lowland, and many have no coastline. That makes campaigning very difficult. Sometimes the Wildlife Trusts are less than the sum of their parts but on rather rare occasions they can be very much more. If Craig can find those rare occasions then that will be good for nature conservation.
[registration_form]
Dr Avery some Trustees pump a hell of a lot of dosh into the Wildlife Trust. My argument has always been this money evaporates into salaries and pensions.
We are about to give an after dinner speech at a private bank clients’ function on rewilding and wealth. In it will be how best to use your money, and we will offer an open invitation to all those that attend to visit us, if you want to know more, we’ll show you, how, why and don’t do at any cost. If we only get one, then that’s a success in my book.
What’s depressing on this article is reading the Fineshade Wood story that I didn’t know about. Again a conflict between human needs and those of nature.
Thomas – I’m not sure I would regard salaries and pensions as evaporation.
I recall the days when there was a campaign kitty all 47 contributed to which was available to all to apply to for taking up important issues at a national level. I recall the days of the likes of the late Stephen Warburton and the landmark cases he was involved in (the River Derwent Navigation, the Flamborough Hedgerow, Preston Under Scar etc.)
We need nice cuddly projects to engage and educate and land/nature reserves but we also need organisations with backbones, not afraid to stand up to issues or establishment when needed.
I wish Craig well and time will tell, just as it is doing with Mr Juniper ….
Nimby, as a WT member for 30 years, former Trustee, and former member of staff of 2 Trusts, I heartily second your views. WTs have gone far, far, too quiet at a national level in recent years.