The funding will enable Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust to collaborate on a four year project to train 24 people called Working for Nature. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the training programme will see the recruits study for their Level 2 Diploma in Environmental Conservation as well as receiving internal training from all three Trusts that will equip them with habitat and species management skills.

Awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the generous funding will also mean 100 people will take part in the John Muir Discovery Award.

The fascinating programme came about because the Trusts are concerned that important conservation skills may be lost from generation to generation unless there is an appetite for people to study conservation and carry them forward. Along with this, the team wanted to ensure that people who have struggled to get a formal education would have a chance at taking part and gain lifelong skills.

Lisa Witham, the Working for Nature programme Manager explains, “Conservation is such a difficult profession to get into – so many people want to be part of the movement but there are so few opportunities for free or cost effective training and even fewer opportunities for employment. As a result some of the important skills are getting lost as experts retire from the field. We wanted to change that and we are delighted that HLF have chosen to support this fabulous project.”

Jonathan Platt, Head of HLF East Midlands, said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to support the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to open up new opportunities for people to take part in high quality training and gain the skills they need to work in the conservation sector. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, this programme will create the ambassadors we need for our natural world in the future.”

Each round of training is 12 months. Recruitment is live and will close on the 24^th August. The Working for Nature project training is open to anyone over the age of 18 and particularly aimed at those who have not received graduate level education and can commit to a full time (or part time on request) schedule of training over 12 months, starting in September.