Radnorshire Wildlife Trust’s branch of Stand for Nature has been running since 2021, and has engaged with hundreds of young people across the county. Despite this, our most valuable engagement has been through our traineeship, which has worked with 11 trainees across the two years it has been active.

Our traineeship is a six-month voluntary position for young people in Radnorshire to take part in real conservation and get an insight into potential career paths – but more than this, they get a chance to get outside, learn about wildlife, meet new people and learn that they are not alone in their interest in nature. Conservation must become a young person’s interest – no longer can it be relegated to being ‘someone else’s problem’. It is, however, often very tricky to get your foot in the door for a young person interested in starting a career in conservation – most young people nowadays have to volunteer to get the experience necessary for a job (and I am no exception - I spent nearly a year volunteering for the Trust through Stand for Nature’s traineeship before getting this job).

Joe & I (now Youth Engagement Officers at RWT) began our traineeship in September 2022, and we recruited Beth, our third trainee, in February 2023, and from there it became a steady stream of new trainees every few months: Lexie in March, Rachel in June, Jake in July, H in October, Dan in December, Rhodri & Thea in April 2024, & Sam in May 2024. As you might imagine, this led to quite a few head-scratching moments for us as staff to make sure we were providing enough experience, given that we have had so many different levels of experience & interests. Despite this, however, each one of our trainees have developed skills including using hand tools safely (and sometimes even the brush cutter!), how to use scythes (Only one accident form was filled out), planning, running events and learning all about the importance of risk assessments, using social media to engage with and advertise to young people, and so much more. They have spent hours in the pouring rain and freezing cold (sometimes both at the same time), have climbed into ponds to help clear them of huge mats of rush and reed (in leaky waders, naturally), picked up cowpats in search of dung beetles, braved the horseflies in summer, and even managed to muster a smile at the end!

Two of our trainees – Joe, my fellow Youth Engagement Officer, and I – have moved on to employment in conservation; A further two have gained places to study marine conservation at university. Yet another is now in full-time employment. Opportunities like this are so few and far-between in Wales. There is still an ‘accepted route’ into conservation: Go to university, learn the theory, graduate, and apply apply apply. Our traineeship shows that this is not necessarily the case. Neither Joe nor I have relevant degrees to conservation. Many of our trainees have decided not to follow the university route. Despite this, after six months of work with us, they have knowledge and experience of wildlife and conservation that is difficult to obtain without going out and doing the work. They are confident in speaking to others, they know which tools are needed for which task, and how to use them safely. They have learned and collected many necessary tools for their toolkits and leave us ready to apply for jobs in the sector.

Another of Stand for Nature’s achievements over the past few years has been the youth group. Aged 9-14, our youth groups have been the first of their kind within the Trust. We have over 15 regular members, helping out with surveying in the summer, litter-picking around Llandrindod in autumn, clearing ponds in winter, and planting hedges and meadows in spring. We have also had the chance to go along to Stand for Nature’s annual Youth Summits – an event that brings all young people involved with other Welsh Wildlife Trusts’ Stand for Nature projects together, giving them a chance to get to know like-minded young people, learn about wildlife, and take part in all sorts of fun activities including moth-trapping and dolphin-watching..

As Stand for Nature ends, it’s wonderful to look back and see what a difference this project has made to young people in Radnorshire. Studies have shown that young people who spend time in nature are more likely to be involved with pro-environmental attitudes later in life (Deville & Tomasso et al., 2021). These early involvements with nature are crucial to fostering the younger generations’ love for nature and their care and stewardship for our environment in the future.

Written by Catrin Sparrow