Throughout 2026, we have been supporting Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust to develop a Land Management Masterplan, helping the organisation to achieve its nature recovery goals, become more financially resilient, and grow its visibility and trust across the region.
It is an exciting time for the Trust. Nature recovery is high up on the National agenda, and as one of the only urban Wildlife Trusts in the country, there is a unique opportunity to create real benefits for communities, land, and environment using its position and skillset as a Wildlife Trust.
Through this project, we worked in partnership with the Trust, bringing our knowledge and expertise in managing and stewarding land for social and environmental benefit. Our role was all about helping the organisation to step back from the weeds of day-to-day work, take a strategic view, and clarify the routes that could be taken forward to create more impact for nature recovery.
Bringing in our perspective as a curious outsider, we began by taking time to understand the organisation’s ambitions, map its current assets, clarify its strengths and identify initial opportunities.
We then built on this work, developing and evaluating these opportunities. We provided a framework for the Trust to hone in on the outcomes they wanted to achieve, equipping them with the tools and knowledge that allowed them to consider where their land could deliver the greatest benefits, and make decisions strategically.
Our work brought together different perspectives on how the Trust could grow its estate, build relationships with landowners, strengthen its public influence and explore opportunities for income generation. The options we presented included suggestions for the short term - actions that felt possible and achievable now, such as strengthening presence and consolidating assets in existing footholds - as well as longer-term proposals, such as taking on and managing new sites, increasing public visibility, and building new relationships with councils and communities.
We’re looking forward to seeing what Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust achieves as it takes this work forward. We see an opportunity for the Trust to become a leader for nature recovery in the region, and hope that this work will support them to take their next steps with confidence.
