The Broughton Sanctuary Nature Recovery Programme is a heartfelt commitment to address one of the deepest contemporary crises – our lack of harmonious co-existence with the Earth – an issue causing mass extinction of species across the globe as well as a deep lack of belonging for humanity.

The landowners feel it is their duty to leave the Broughton Sanctuary in a much healthier condition for generations to come and aim to demonstrate how humans can live in a more fruitful and positive partnership with the land, in a way which helps both nature and humanity to truly flourish. To achieve this, we are transforming 1030 hectares of high intensity sheep pasture into a mosaic of different habitats that coexist and work together, to not only produce food, but also work towards helping nature recover.

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It is a 100% native and diverse planting scheme based upon native English forest.  The scheme has been designed to enhance the aesthetics of the landscape whilst avoiding hard edges.  A mix of tree and shrub species has been selected.  The many species planted include: alder, birch, bird cherry, field maple, hazel, rowan, common oak, sessile oak, lime, aspen, crab apple, black walnut, beech, hornbeam, whitebeam, hawthorn, blackthorn and holly.  The project is considered to be the jewel in the crown of the White Rose Forest.

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The Broughton Estate will migrate its intensive agriculture practices over towards a regenerative farming model that works to support nature. They have also dedicated some areas for rewilding, where we are working with nature, to get natural processes, the foundations of life, working again. As well as aiming to increase biodiversity and health and wellbeing opportunities for people, this nature recovery will also deliver a wide range of other benefits to society, known as “ecosystem services”. Through this project we are also helping to grow White Rose Forest, the community forest in North and West Yorkshire, and the larger Northern forest, which will stretch from Merseyside to the Yorkshire coast.

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The project transforms the existing landscape from one that is dominated by intensive sheep grazing, with only 6% tree cover and of limited wildlife value, to a rich mosaic of multi textured, multicoloured habitats, with over 20% tree cover and teeming with wildlife. This will provide multiple benefits - not only for wildlife and for visitors to Broughton, through health and wellbeing, access and education opportunities, but also to the wider communities in West Yorkshire through reduced flood risk, better water quality, improved carbon sequestration etc. This will require several years of fairly intense activity to help kick-start the recovery of natural processes, but over time it will mean reducing management of the land and allowing nature to take care of itself.

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Initial interventions have included cessation of sheep grazing and arable cultivation in some areas, followed by the planting of trees and the allowance of natural tree and scrub regeneration. The Environment Agency will implement natural flood management interventions on the estate to help with the recovery of natural processes and thus contribute to rewilding. This includes the introduction of leaky woody debris dams in some of the smaller watercourses, the creation of earth dams on the deep gullies on the moorland and the excavation of ponds and scrapes in selected areas to create wetland habitats. These interventions help to slow the flow of water off the steep hillsides and thus contribute to reducing flood risk in peak rainfall periods further downstream.

The Estate will also be removing fencing where appropriate to help provide a greater sense of wildness on the estate, and in a few years’ time expect to be introducing small numbers of large native breed cattle, wild boars and wild ponies. Broughton Estate has applied for a licence to reintroduce the Eurasian beaver. These animals will be allowed to roam across large areas to help create a rich mosaic of habitats, as they have done successfully in other rewilding projects. Intensive sheep farming will still continue in some parts of the estate in accordance with long-term tenancy agreements. So the estate will continue to produce, but with a greater variety of food and very importantly, producing a wide range of public benefits.​​