Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

So, how can you help us?

We are looking for help to deliver this project. The verges within the Yorkshire Dales have already been surveyed and we know which ones we would like to manage first, but we need to match road verges with local communities / conservation groups to establish teams of people around the project area. Obviously, working on roadsides is inherently dangerous, so we will be concentrating volunteer help on the smaller roads. This work will take place in early May and late August / early September.

• Larger, busier, roads we intend to manage with contractors, either directly or by tweaking the management carried out by current contractors on behalf of NYCC Highways Dept. If you already mow or otherwise manage the verge near where you live – maybe you have a farm, pub, hotel, stables, or other roadside business – please consider the ways you manage the vegetation for conservation. Close-mown grass may be pleasing in one way, but so can a verge of native flowers and grasses! Daffodils do not help as they only flower for a short period of time and are becoming an ever increasing feature of the countryside. Please don’t apply herbicides.  Please avoid using wide verges as storage areas.
  
• If you are a member of a naturalists club and wish to volunteer your surveying skills, please contact me as we do need some knowledge of what is to be found in Nidderdale. Full training will be given in methods to survey roadsides safely!
  
• Maybe you have a farm and could offer us some space for the arisings we will be collecting. These would constitute what you see growing on the roadside, minus any litter of course.
• Don’t worry if you live outside the Yorkshire Dales! We need to map all interesting road verges within Yorkshire, so drop me an email and I will forward the information to the relevant data record centre or Highways Dept.
• This is a joint project between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, North Yorkshire County Council, and Nidderdale AONB. I will be leading the project over the next few years. Please contact me if you feel you can help with this project, or would like to know how to better manage the verges near where you live.