Nature should be open to everyone

Spending time in nature has been found to help with anxiety and depression, as well as lower the stress hormone cortisol and boost your mood. It can even support your cognitive function, with improvements to memory, problem-solving skills and creativity.

However, we don’t all have equal access to nature. There are many barriers in our society which prevent people from getting out into and enjoying our natural world. These barriers can be geographical, socio-economic, cultural and systemic – and they can also be physical. For example, inaccessible gates for wheelchair users or uneven terrain for those who are visually impaired make accessing some wild places very challenging or even impossible.

Better access to nature improves things for us all, and it’s our responsibility as charities, businesses, councils and governments to identify where we can make changes, and implement them. Initially, these changes can seem insurmountable, but in fact the opposite is usually true and the steps to making nature more accessible to all are attainable, logical and affordable.

A recent example is our newest nature reserve, Ripon City Wetlands, which was created from the footprint of a working quarry and opened in 2019.

Ripon City Wetlands. Picture: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

After the reserve opened, we received some complaints that access to the reserve was difficult for wheelchair users, pushchairs and those with limited mobility. The car park was deep gravel, gates were on uneven ground with no space to manoeuvre mobility equipment and a timber beam stretching across a bird hide obstructed the view for wheelchair users.

After receiving this feedback, we wanted to take action to improve the situation so more people were able to enjoy Ripon City Wetlands.

First, we consulted with members of the disabled community to understand what changes would be needed. Then, we secured funding to resurface part of the car park, improve gates and make changes to the hides.

Peter Lau is a disabled outdoor enthusiast who regularly visits locations such as nature reserves, parks and recreational open spaces. He provided invaluable feedback and worked with us to implement the changes at Ripon City Wetlands.

Here's his experience:

‘Accessing wilder places, nature and the outdoor environment can offer numerous challenges to a disabled person. I am fully dependent on a wheelchair for my own mobility. Many obstacles that are of no or minor consequence to most able-bodied people are an unnegotiable and impossible barrier to a person using a wheelchair or mobility scooter. A step (even a very small one), A-frames, gates, the gradient of a slope, gravel, restricted widths of an opening, a stile or adverse camber can all prevent a mobility equipment user from exploring and enjoying a location.

In effect, Ripon City Wetlands was split into two parts, with a four mile detour for a wheelchair user to be able to visit the wildlife hides across the site. Once aware of the issues present, the reserve team were quick and proactive to address them. Funding was put in place to improve the gates and address a large section of the carpark and modify the viewing areas.

I have visited Ripon City Wetlands since the changes were carried out and the nature reserve now offers wheelchair users a fully negotiable and fully accessible experience. It’s now a location that is more engaging for all as well as being far more inclusive. It is vital and more cost effective for all organisations to engage fully with all groups of the community, to ensure everyone's needs are met.’

We’re so pleased that more communities can now enjoy visiting Ripon City Wetlands and discover the amazing wildlife, and we were thrilled that our work improving the reserve was recognised by Open Country, which champions countryside access for all, who have awarded us the Good Access Award.

We’re grateful for everything we have learned from this experience, and will use these learnings moving forward when planning new reserves and making changes to established ones. It has never been more important to ensure that everyone is able to experience nature and wild places. We hope that with every set of improvements like at Ripon City Wetlands, we can get ever closer to achieving that vision.