The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country

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The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country (BBCWT) is a wildlife trust covering Birmingham and the Black Country in the West Midlands of England.

The aim of the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country is to ensure the diversity and richness of wildlife in the urban area, and to help people understand, protect and celebrate their environment. They have nature conservation, community and education projects. Research, survey and monitoring inform our lobbying and campaigning for wildlife and the environment. They are committed to protect and promote Biodiversity, promote sustainable development and celebrate the urban environment.

The Wildlife Trust works to make Birmingham and the Black Country a better place for wildlife and people. This is an area with internationally, regionally and locally important species and habitats, and around 5% of the national population in one of the most cosmopolitan areas of the UK. The Wildlife Trust has access to a resource of ecological knowledge and expertise, backed by a reputation for accuracy and objectiveness. The Trust operates a number of environmental centres including the Centre of the Earth and the Birmingham EcoPark.

Established in 1980 The Wildlife Trust is a full member of the Royal Society for Wildlife Trusts, (one of 46 covering the whole United Kingdom), and was the first urban Wildlife Trust. They have a membership of over 5,000. Their approach combines practical conservation action, campaigning, policy development and a commitment to community and education initiatives. Issues of sustainable development and the conservation of biodiversity are interdependent and cannot be dealt with in isolation.

Their President is Professor David Bellamy OBE, and Vice Presidents are Professor Chris Baines and Peter Shirley MBE. The Trust is managed by a council of trustees drawn from the membership. The Trust has a full time Chief Executive, Neil Wyatt, about twenty other full, part-time and contract staff and many active volunteers. They produce a regular newsletter, which provides coverage of their activities and a range of urban wildlife issues.

[edit] Notable firsts

Created in 1980, by Chris Baines and others, it was formerly known as the Urban Wildlife Trust, the United Kingdom's first urban Wildlife Trust. It was responsible for the first ever International Dawn Chorus Day event, held at Moseley Bog in 1984.

The Trust was the first UK Wildlife Trust to become a member of Countdown 2010 the Eurpoean initiative to halt the decline in biodiversity by 2010.

Black Country Living Landscape is amajor initiative of the Trust that aims to be the first practical application of the principles of landscape scale conservation to an urban area.