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The Trust for Urban Ecology was
founded in 1976 when veteran ecologist Max Nicholson and a group
of like-minded conservationists set up Britain's first urban ecology
park. The William Curtis Ecological Park was created on the site
of a derelict lorry park near London's Tower Bridge.
Max Nicholson (www.maxnicholson.com)
was also instrumental in setting up the World Wildlife Fund and
became the 2nd Director General of the Nature Conservancy Council.
A visionary for his time he foresaw the need to bring nature conservation
into towns where we live and where people can make a difference.
TRUE has created many new nature
parks since 1976 and now has four key demonstration sites within
south-east London.
The William Curtis Ecological
Park was always intended to be temporary and in 1985 the land
was returned to its owners. By this time, TRUE had already created
two new nature parks which it still runs today. Work on the third,
offered to the Trust as a replacement for the William Curtis Ecological
Park, was just about to begin.
TRUE's three parks in Southwark are all designated local nature reserves (LNRs) and have a full time warden. Two are based in the built up area of the former Surrey Docks in London's Docklands, once the centre of Britain's timber trade. The third is based a few miles away in Crystal Palace.
In 2002, TRUE took on the management of the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park in the London Borough of Greenwich. Owned by English Partnerships, this wetland ecology park has two full time wardens.
TRUE's parks have a special role to play in the world of ecology and conservation:
- They provide a new habitat for urban wildlife
- They enable ecologists to discover more about the nature of urban ecology
- They offer city residents, including schoolchildren, the chance to enjoy nature and learn through hands-on experience
- They demonstrate the value of 'creative conservation' - an ecological approach to the creation of new landscapes
- They provide examples of best practice and key demonstration sites, which have been acknowledge as far afield as Japan and Korea
As well as running four nature reserves, TRUE's manager, former landscape architect Ben Dewhurst, and his team of six staff organise and run the following activities:
- An environmental design, creation and management service
- Volunteer and work placement schemes
- Environment skills training
- Corporate team-building project
All images on this website are the property
of TRUE and cannot be reproduced without the express permission
of TRUE
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