This article was first featured in the August 2026 edition of Pets Magazine.
By Alec Pue, Site Manager at the Woodland Trust’s Snaizeholme Estate
Hidden high above Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales National Park lies a place where nature is quietly writing a new chapter.
Snaizeholme is not simply a woodland creation project. It is a 561-hectare landscape where native woodland, peatland, rivers and wildlife are being restored together, creating one of the UK’s most ambitious examples of nature recovery. Just as importantly, it remains a working landscape, demonstrating how farming and nature recovery can support one another. While the changes are already visible, the real transformation will unfold over decades rather than years.
Since 2023, more than 290 hectares of native woodland have been planted, creating one of England’s largest new native woods. Yet the trees are only part of the story. Across the valley, peat bogs are being restored, streams are being returned to more natural processes and habitats are being reconnected, allowing wildlife to move more freely through the landscape.
The vision is simple to describe but hugely ambitious to achieve: a thriving mosaic of native woodland, scrub, flower-rich meadows, peat bog, open grassland, limestone pavement and healthy rivers, all working together as one living landscape. Carefully managed grazing will continue to play an important role, helping shape habitats in much the same way that native large wild herbivores once did.
Walk through Snaizeholme today and you are seeing the beginning of something rather than the finished picture. The young trees planted now will one day provide shelter, shade and wildlife corridors, while healthier peatlands and watercourses will quietly store carbon, improve water quality and help reduce flooding further downstream.
Much of the most important work is happening out of sight
Around 109 hectares of upland peat have already been restored, helping to lock away carbon while supporting wildlife that depends on these precious habitats. Snaizeholme Beck and its network of 21 streams are also being restored, allowing water to move more naturally through the valley. Instead of rushing downhill, water is slowed by natural features that benefit both wildlife and communities further downstream.
Snaizeholme has also become an outdoor laboratory
Researchers from the Universities of Leeds and York are studying how woodland creation, peatland restoration and natural flood management interact across an upland landscape. Using specialist equipment, they are monitoring rainfall, streamflow, vegetation, soil moisture and soil carbon to better understand how restored landscapes function.
Early modelling suggests that restoring the valley could reduce downstream flooding during a one-in-50-year storm by almost ten per cent, while the research is helping answer important questions about storing carbon without damaging valuable peat soils.
Although many visitors know Snaizeholme because of its red squirrels, they represent only one thread in a much richer tapestry. Curlew, lapwing, black grouse, barn owls, kestrels, otters, brown trout and white-clawed crayfish all stand to benefit from healthier, better connected habitats.
Nature recovery is rarely about one species. It is about rebuilding an entire ecosystem where woodland, rivers, grassland and peat all support one another. When habitats connect, wildlife has more opportunities to feed, breed and move safely across the landscape.
Projects on this scale also depend on people, and that includes the farmers who have helped shape these landscapes for generations. At Snaizeholme, farming is not seen as something separate from nature recovery, but as an important part of delivering it. Carefully managed grazing helps maintain the varied habitats that wildlife depends upon while ensuring the valley remains a living, working landscape.
From the outset, restoration has involved local communities, neighbouring landowners, farmers, partner organisations and the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Balancing conservation, farming, public access and the needs of local communities is every bit as important as planting trees.
Visitors can already experience the valley via the nearby Red Squirrel Trail, where careful access allows people to enjoy this remarkable landscape while protecting the wildlife that calls it home.
At a time when so many stories about nature focus on decline, Snaizeholme offers something increasingly rare: evidence that damaged landscapes can recover. It reminds us that restoring nature is about far more than planting trees. It is about bringing together science, farming, communities and conservation to create resilient landscapes that benefit wildlife, tackle climate change, improve water quality, reduce flood risk and inspire future generations.
The work has only just begun, but already Snaizeholme shows what is possible when patience, science and long-term thinking come together. In a world that often feels full of environmental challenges, that may be the most encouraging message of all.
Field Notes is supported by Ordnance Survey, helping people explore Britain’s landscapes with their dogs.
About the author
Alec Pue is Site Manager at the Woodland Trust’s Snaizeholme Estate in the Yorkshire Dales, where he is overseeing one of the UK’s largest landscape-scale nature recovery projects.
Find out more:
Woodland Trust Snaizeholme Appeal: woodlandtrust.org.uk/support-us/give/appeals/snaizeholme