New Crowdfunder
We are currently in the process of buying 70 acres in the Cotswolds AONB just outside Bath, next to Warleigh Weir. This project has amazing potential for creating woodland, wetland, even wet woodland, flood mitigation, and hopefully we'll help clean the River Avon a little and provide habitat for beavers who have already been spotted in the area. Donate here.
We were unsuccessful this time
The land has escaped us, and all donations have been refunded. The difficulty with buying land on the open market is you never know if you'll get it, even when there seems to be no interest.
Please help Protect Earth raise the funds to purchase 20 acres of land near Knighton, just down the road from one of our largest woodland creation and habitat restoration projects in Lloyney, known as Goytre Hill, soon to be Goytre Wood.
More about Goytre Wood (English, Welsh).
The plan for this land would be to naturally regenerate some sections and plant some sections as appropriate, keeping some areas open around the ponds to increase benefits for wildlife. This would be another community woodland, with increased public access to enjoy this wonderful space, connecting up to existing popular public footpaths and bridleways.
This land was brought to our attention by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, who support our attempt to purchase the land.
Who are we?
Protect Earth is a registered charity with projects and team mates spread across England, Scotland, and Wales, focused on natural solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises. We work with farmers to increase natural and climate resilience on their land at no cost to them, but we also buy the lowest quality farmland and other degraded land to create larger wildlife refuges because "hedges and edges" alone isn't going to get us out of these crises.
Why this specific bit of land?
Just like Goytre Hill, this land lies in the Wilder Marches area, meaning it will have a compound benefit due to the network effect created by all these nearby projects. With work being done across the common, multiple Wildlife Trust sites nearby, and improvements being made various farms nearby, this 20 acre habitat creation project will have far more impact than a similar sized project done in isolation.
What is Wilder Marches?
The Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire Wildlife Trusts have formed the ‘Wilder Marches’ Partnership, a cross-border project bringing together landowners, farmers, and chartiable organizations, all working together to help nature struggling in the face of intensive farming and extensive forestry plantations.
What happens if we don't hit the target?
If we do not hit £30,000, we will not be able to make an offer, and all pledges will be returned.
What happens if our offer is not accepted?
Crowdfunding for land on the open market is incredibly hard, and in the past we've come in second place and returned all the money. After being outbid trying to Save Blackswarth Road Wood, many of our supporters asked us to put the money towards other land purchases, so this time we are going to do that.
If we hit the £30,000 target, all pledges will go into our Land Fund, to be used to purchase this site or another similar site, for woodland and habitat creation. This fund is ringfenced purely for buying land, and cannot be used for salary, equipment, marketing, or any other general purposes. We will be looking for more land in the same area, and lots of unused land is coming up, so we will strive to put your money to good use as soon as possible.