engagement
Community
Our approach
At Heal, we are dedicated to ensuring that the work we do involves and benefits our communities.
Our approach is to see things through a people lens, asking ourselves ‘How can Heal help the community?’. By working closely with our neighbours and community partners, we are co-developing plans and opportunities that make a difference. This not only maximises the benefit to people but also fosters a deeper involvement and embeds us in the community.
“It's been fantastic collaborating with Heal Rewilding's Community Engagement Manager Julia. Her team has delivered a series of engaging talks and site visits for our groups, all of which our participants have thoroughly enjoyed. They go to great efforts in making their project accessible to our groups, many of whom need additional support in accessing the countryside. Our trips to Heal have been wonderful for our groups' wellbeing”
- Zak Mather-Gratton, Project Officer at Frog Life
Bridging the inequality gap in nature connection and wellbeing
We want rewilding to be accessible to everyone so that all individuals can experience the wellbeing benefits that nature provides. By collaborating with the council, community networks and charities, we have developed relevant and inclusive opportunities that can bring about transformative change to people’s lives.
The journey already has been extraordinary. We've had people living with dementia strolling through birdsong, groups with poor mental health inhaling the freshness of ground ivy, teenagers with special needs gasping at camera trap footage, and children with disabilities peering under microscopes as their parents breathed their way through mindful movement.
“I felt a real affinity to the place, as if I was coming home”
- Community group visitor
The Village Fields
Village Fields is a 30-acre site adjacent to the local village, overseen by seven local residents. In 2025, around 700 native trees were planted to create a community orchard, with a recent survey showing an 80% survival rate.
Shared decision-making
We at Heal firmly believe that nature recovery can be more powerful and have more long-lasting impacts with community involvement. Heal’s goal is to place communities at the heart of rewilding. Shared decision-making is central to this, as it’s how we ensure that the future of Heal will be shaped by people whose lives are most connected to the landscape.
We began the move towards shared decision-making with community involvement in specific projects and programmes. At the end of 2025 we took this one step further and sent out a shared decision-making survey to our volunteers, team and close community partners, focusing on strategic planning and land use.
All of the land management questions asked in the survey were ones that had first been discussed with our Land Management Advisory Group. There were no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ responses, as none of the decisions had any deep ecological ramifications. Our aim was to hear the thoughts of our local community on how we should shape future land interventions and visitor experience.
Below are some examples that the survey results have helped to inform:
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Dead wood habitats and willow planting
There was overwhelming support for leaving dead wood in the fields to create habitat and for planting more willow. Rewilding projects like ours undertake tree planting as an ‘assisted regeneration’ activity, where tree stocks have been significantly diminished as is the case for willows at the Heal Somerset site.
Willow has been planted around the beaver wetland and Stage Zero river valley, and we have recently received several loads of tree trunks and branches that are being used to create ‘invertebrate island’ dead wood habitats in several locations across the eastern and southern fields
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Bird boxes
There was also strong support for installing more bird boxes around the site. In February 2026, we built and installed a simple kestrel box, which has already proved a great success – three kestrel chicks fledged from it this summer. Building on this success, we aim to install additional boxes later in 2026, potentially including barn owl boxes
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Increasing access and signage across the site
A ‘blue sky’ vision of opening up more of the site for people to explore was well supported. At the same time, some respondents raised thoughtful concerns about the maintenance requirements and visual impact of boardwalks. As a first step, we plan to improve access to additional areas of the site later in 2026. Any larger-scale access improvements – including new boardwalks or additional signage – will depend on future funding
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Seating
Providing seating at key locations around the site was also a popular suggestion. The general consensus was to keep any seating simple and in keeping with the site's wild character. We are currently exploring options, including the use of large logs as natural benches
Get involved
If you have a group that could benefit from coming to our site or learning more about rewilding, please contact our Community Engagement Manager via email at julia.galbenu@healrewilding.org.uk.
Volunteer as a Community Engagement Leader
Volunteers play a significant role in our community engagement work. If you are passionate about delivering meaningful engagement to diverse groups, please consider volunteering as a Community Engagement Leader.