Access and Engagement

Engaging with the public is something scientists are often criticised for not doing, yet many of our Nature Reserves need tourism to help manage them and education is an important part of conservation. For a project partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund getting the local people who have helped pay for the project involved, is especially important.


From a biologists point of view handling arguments against a project may not seem intuitive; we're working to improve the environment and benefit wildlife how could anyone object? But inevitably, as with anything, there will be people who think differently. This was one of my first lessons.


As an introvert more interested in animals than people I will freely admit I never expected, nor wanted, my year in industry to involve direct communication with the public and the idea of talking to local schools about the Broad and our project fills me with dread. And yet when I was finally settled in and started working; this was exactly what I started working on.


More accurately I start working on a database of local groups and schools who might be interested in hearing about our Broad, with the ultimate aim of getting the Hoveton Great Broad Nature Trail on people's watch lists. We want people to know about the Broad; visiting and enjoying it.


Which is a challenge when the only access to the Nature Trail is via boat, and when there the trail itself is a narrow, uneven path of planks sunk into the marshy undergrowth on which people have to walk in single file. In one way this is one of its charms; this type of trail gets you into the wet woodland habitat to really experience it without the level of detachment that a boardwalk has, and the isolation from land makes it the unique habitat that it is.


But access is an issue. Which is why outreach is so important. There are a range of ideas floating around, on the agenda of our Access and Engagement Officer as well as in my mind and rapidly filling notebook. As the discussion in that meeting room with the Severn River Trust continued, and after the many other conversations I've had since, I'm made aware how limiting my Biological mind can be. While it was my Biological Sciences degree that brought me to Hoveton Broad, a fact probably true of several others at Natural England, the Broad has more to offer than simply looking at it through a scientific lens.


So when creating my database of people to engage with I cast my net wider than the usual birders and ramblers to historians and creative artists. Then when looking into the national curriculum I realise we can link to more subjects than just Biology and Geography. Creation of these outreach resources are still on the drawing board and any talks I might be asked to give are still a anxiety subduing way off into the future, but while I may still not consider making lesson plans or learning aids my 'thing', I find myself thinking about this project differently, and looking at Access and Engagement with more curiosity than dread.