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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

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