Small is beautiful, but ...

In the eyes of the Government Sennen and Swindon, Poole and Penzance, Tewkesbury and Truro are all in the same 'South West Region'. The current debate in Cornwall would indicate that there are people in Cornwall who do not agree with that arbitrary division.

This debate has spilled over into the wildlife arena where two apparently conflicting decisions have been reached. On the one hand, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust is very proud of its reputation within Cornwall, with our individual members, with the Councils and with outside Agencies, and we are determined to retain our autonomy. However, in coping with the difficulties of being heard, by these outside Agencies and others who operate on a Regional basis, we have recognised the need to liaise more closely with our neighbouring Wildlife Trusts. The resulting partnership will have a much stronger voice and will wield much greater influence.

'South West Wildlife Trusts', formed in 2002, is a jointly owned charitable company made up of The Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset,

Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Trusts.

Our aims are to get the issues affecting wildlife in the South West of Britain better understood by the general public throughout the region, as well as pushing them higher up the agendas of organisations which have both clout and money. Our initiative has already been recognized and we have secured funding to carry forward an exciting new project which will benefit the whole region.

Rebuilding Biodiversity is an ambitious scheme aimed at restoring the richness of the countryside, lost at an alarming rate over the past 50 years. During that time all 47 Wildlife Trusts in Britain have concentrated on protecting, by ownership wherever possible, individual Reserves. These parcels of land, which harbour protected species or represent endangered habitats, have often been acquired with little thought for their location in respect to other Reserves.

In order to rebuild the biodiversity of the region we need to create much larger spaces in which wildlife can flourish. Based on work done by our project manager, Henry Barbour, in the New

England States of America, this approach recognizes that individual ownership of land is of no concern to wildlife, but large, contiguous 'wildlife areas', incorporating land under many owners, are of much greater benefit than the sum total of the parts. The project is led by the South West Wildlife Trusts, co-operating with the Environment Agency, RSPB, English Nature and DEFRA.

Our strength within the new partnership can be measured, in part, by the strength of our membership. With nearly 9,000 members we are indeed a force within the Wildlife movement, and I hope that you too share in the pride of being involved in the multi-faceted work done by our multi-talented team in Cornwall. However, numbers count. In common with our partners, it is vital that we continue to push our numbers up. This will put us in an even stronger position to achieve the ambitious aims of Rebuilding Biodiversity throughout Cornwall and the neighbouring land mass.

Please help by recruiting a new member in 2003.

Howard Curnow