Over the past few weeks, I have had a few calls (and another set up for tomorrow) with a variety of people, in order to try and get the Rewilding project moving properly. Although they didn’t all take quite the form that I thought they would, they were nonetheless extremely valuable, and have given me a lot to think about.
The first call was extremely helpful in beginning to open doors and opportunities to get the project on the ground, as they were able to set me up with a contact in the local council. Additionally, they were able to shed some light on the situation of land ownership – in terms of the grass verges – how I might get to plant in them, and who to speak to about this. As such, I have emailed the relevent authorities, and am waiting for them to get back to me. I was also given the idea of proposing a pilot project for my rewilding project, which would make the council more likely to back and say yes to my project, as I would be able to support my pitch with actual evidence, such as how the verges will be maintained, the funding necessary, etc.
The second call was also very useful, although I had thought that it might be more about pitching my idea to the council than just chatting about my project and getting advice. In spite of this, I did gain a lot of advice and insight – particularly in the realm of bureaucracy and public opinion. The image below shows the advice that I was given:
From this, I have had the idea of making a survey or questionnaire, which I could give to the local residents in order to gauge their thoughts and feelings on the project, as well as how they feel about the biodiversity levels and plant cover here, which will give me an idea on how the rewilding effort is likely to be taken. This will be a vital resource in my project’s progression, as public feeling is vital to the success of a project such as this, where the work we do will have a lasting impact on the community. It is also important to remember that not everyone will feel and think as I do, and will probably be concerned only with the now, rather than the future of the planet, and creating a system change in order to create a lovable future for all. Over the next few days, I will begin creating this questionnaire, and will test it out on a few test subjects before releasing it to the public, in order to make sure that it is objective and fair.
Overall, I am pleased with how these calls went – they have undoubtedly helped me to plan my project more – and to progress it further towards fruition too. I am looking forward to my next call, where I will hopefully be able to get my project one step closer to action!
