Youngwilders

Youngwilders is a national network of young people restoring nature across England, from planting hedgerows and creating wetlands to rewilding land, including on urban sites such as a community farm in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. Projects are designed with sustainability at their core — native species, biodegradable materials, no plastic — but the network’s real distinction is who it reaches. Youngwilders deliberately makes conservation accessible to young people from Global Majority backgrounds, who remain underrepresented in a traditionally white and middle-class sector, subsidising travel, food and tickets so cost is never a barrier to taking part. Beyond the practical habitat work, events like Overgrowth, its annual youth rewilding summit, connect hundreds of young people who care about nature, creating space for new projects and friendships to form. The network also opens routes into paid conservation work, helping young people build careers in a sector many would otherwise never have imagined belonging to, while boosting wellbeing and mental health through community and connection to the outdoors.