By Sue Crawford

Published at 14:14, Friday, 04 January 2013

NATURE conservation projects in Cumbria have shared a £60,000 grant thanks to the generosity of visitors to the area.

The money was collected during fundraising initiatives involving visitors to Cumbrian businesses carried out by members of Nurture Lakeland over the last six months.

Groups to have benefitted include the Friends of Dubwath Silver Meadows who look after an area of wetland nature reserve near Bassenthwaite, Red Squirrels Northern England, National Trust, Woodland Trust, Friends of the Lake District, Lake District National Park and Cumbria Outdoors.

The donations will help with conservation projects including upland path repair and maintenance, woodland creation and outdoor community education programmes.

The £60,000 sum is made up of donations from visitors to Cumbria through businesses operating Visitor Giving through Nurture Lakeland.

These smaller sums are raised through a variety of means, the most common being an optional £1 donation on top of the cost of a hotel or B&B room at the time of booking, or donations generated through collection boxes.

Other businesses have more novel ways of generating their Visitor Giving donations, including offsetting their impact on nature through a donation per mile travelled by car within Cumbria. Nurture Lakeland’s director, Sue Savege, said: “We are delighted to have helped enthusiastic members raise £60,000 collectively and every business that has contributed should be shouting about their efforts to their guests and customers, as today’s consumer wants to place their custom with ‘green’ businesses.

“The total raised will make a huge difference to conservation projects and it just goes to show how lots of small donations can add up to a big sum that can really make its mark when it comes to conserving our landscape and its flora and fauna.

“No business should think that their donation will not have an impact, as Visitor Giving is about the power of many, who combine their resources and work as a conservation collective which can bring about positive change through Nurture Lakeland’s Visit Give Protect programme.”

One of the projects supported by Nurture Lakeland’s Visit Give Protect programme, Fix the Fells, recognises the huge value of the funding it receives.

Operations co-ordinator Richard Fox said: “Our work is carried out to exacting high standards using traditional methods and we rely on funding raised by Nurture Lakeland from the tourism industry. We’re hugely grateful for the generous contributions collected from visitors this way. Without this funding, much of the essential work would not be possible.”

To find out how to set up a Visitor Giving scheme for your business, visit www.nurturelakeland.org or call Ruth Kirk (01539) 822622.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk