What We Do
The three objectives listed below will help Tir Natur to achieve its overarching goal; to restore biodiversity and bio abundance to our landscapes, and restore natural carbon cycles.
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These goals give us a clear focus for a route forwards, and they tie in together.
1. Raise Money, Buy Land and Restore Nature
The main objective of Tir Natur is to purchase or lease land and restore nature. We hope that by doing this, we will inspire other landowners to undertake the rewilding journey. We understand the scale of the crises we are facing, and so we are mindful that any direct impact we have in restoring nature needs to have a ripple effect throughout Wales. That is why this objective ties in with objective three, which is to promote the principles of rewilding - we will use our own projects to do so.
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We will look to purchase at least one area of land for a rewilding project (over 200 acres), and smaller land parcels for small-scale rewilding. Crucially we will showcase our rewilding project as a working farm, demonstrating the important role of large grazers and farming in ecosystem restoration.
Whether it is farmland, woodland or degraded peatlands – we will look to apply rewilding principles to restore as much of the ecosystem as possible, and allow natural processes to take over.
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Before undertaking any rewilding or small-scale rewilding project, we will take detailed baseline surveys of wildlife, vegetation and soil carbon to establish a thorough baseline of data, so that we can monitor the improvements made over time.
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90% of funds raised will go towards this objective, as it is the most crucial aspect of what we do.
2. Connect People & Projects in Wales
Through our Wilder Wales Network, Tir Natur will connect people and projects from around Wales. These projects will not only include rewilding projects, but small-scale rewilding, and any other project that is putting nature first. We will use this network to link up parcels of land where nature is recovering in order to create wildlife corridors.
From farms to gardens, community initiatives to reintroduction projects, the network will be a hive of positive energy and engagement. It will be a focal point for nature recovery in Wales, and rewilding in particular. The purpose is to encourage people who might be hesitant about rewilding to come forward, and connect people with like-minded individuals and share ideas.
Each project will be listed on our map of Wales, and information and photos will be provided. Moving forwards, we want to hear about how each project is developing, with members monitoring their own projects for species that have returned, and any surprises that arise.
Nature recovery is a long-term endeavour, but with immediate impacts for wildlife. The journey is one of hope and discovery, and we want to share the stories of the people in Wales who have decided to act on the nature crises we are facing as a country.
3. Promote the Principles of Rewilding
Our third objective is to promote the principles of rewilding, and in particular to address some of the misconceptions about it. We want to change people's perceptions of what is possible to achieve in our landscape with regard to nature, and change the narrative from ‘protecting what is left’ to ‘restoring ecosystems at scale’.
This objective ties in with our first objective of purchasing land to rewild. We will use any land to draw people's attention to the ideas of ecosystem restoration. All our land will be open access, and we will actively be encouraging people to visit to learn more about rewilding first hand.
We will inform people on the many benefits that rewilding offers to biodiversity and bio abundance, as well as the physical environment and to the resilience of communities and the well-being of society. This is a journey for ourselves also – we are always looking to learn more about natures extraordinary capacity to recover and manage itself, and we want to bring people on board this journey.
Click here for the Principles & Outcomes of rewilding.
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Click here for ‘What is Rewilding?’
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Photo credits in order - Longhorns (Knepp Wildlands), Wildflowers (Shutterstock)