Winter update: hosting the Forest of Dean Biosphere conference

We were honoured to host the first conference of stakeholders who will work together in the Forest, hoping to make a successful application to become a UNESCO Biosphere. Biospheres are essentially living laboratories for finding out how we can live better alongside nature. There are 7 in the UK and more than 700 worldwide.

People often speak of opportunities in relation to becoming a biosphere - that it will shine a light on what makes our place unique, create new sustainable jobs, investment and more tourism. At Wylderne we believe the Forest has always been a biosphere - or a bioregion, see below. So it’s less that the region will now be zoned according to how UNESCO defines a biosphere (though no doubt a very interesting experiment) and more that our local community has a chance now to start a lively conversation about the potential that is here yet to be realised, rooted in a care for each other, and for the landscape. There’s potential in a resilient and self reliant people and in a proud history of innovation. The Council has asked us to take on the role of a ‘citizen’s hub’ for the Biosphere. We’re looking forward to the conversations!

Our Long Term Vision

Wylderne is an evolution of the outdoor activities and residential experience that the Wilderness has offered for over 50 years.

Our vision is now to be a learning centre for the whole Forest community. One way of describing what we’re becoming is to call us a ‘bioregioning’ centre. Bioregioning describes how human beings related to the land for thousands of years before industrialisation and a wholly globalised economy. It’s the mindset that will make a success of a Biosphere!

You can read more about bioregioning here. 

Suffice to say, given its facilities, history and ecological vitality the Wilderness is a natural hub for people to connect with each other, and with Nature.

Children and young people are at the heart of our vision. Building thriving lives through good mental and physical health with an appreciation of how the natural world works will be a central theme in all Wylderne’s programmes and activities.

Winter’s colours at The Wilderness

Since we took back ownership of The Wilderness for the local community in the Forest of Dean at the beginning of August, we have been busy. Repairs and upgrades of the main building are underway thanks to our crowdfunder, and replacements for worn equipment used for outdoor activities have been ordered in. We have also just finished in draft our habitat development plan ‘Our Wilder Wilderness’. This is key. This is the plan to breathe new life into the Wilderness Centre. It will guide everything we do from now on. If you’re planning to visit here in any capacity then your feedback on it is important. We want it to be inspirational, but also relatable and very practical. There is plenty of local knowledge that has its place in such a plan. We are planning a series of events at which local people can have their say. 

Look out for details of the next event! 

We would like to become the destination in the Forest of Dean for nature connection: the place for raising our understanding of how nature works in a way that helps our whole region to thrive. 

We’ll be announcing volunteer opportunities very soon.

Of course, our main business continues to be with schools coming on their residentials. Our priority is to keep the children safe and stimulated.

We feel the untapped potential here in the Forest, a place between three rivers: the Severn, the Wye and the Leadon. While it is an ‘edge’ place, sometimes forgotten, against the ancient boundary between England and Wales, it has also always been a ‘working forest’. And a place which from time to time has played a central role in the story of the whole country.

You could add the wider world, too, for the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution was here in the lower Wye Valley. What role might it take now, given we are moving towards a greener economy? The Wilderness, as a Forest-wide learning centre could be where we find this out.