AN AMBITOUS plan to help restore nature and support the environment is looking for volunteers to make it happen.

To be launched next week on September 17 to September 24, the ‘Great Big Dorset Hedge’ project aims to enhance the existing extensive network of hedgerows.

The plan is to create a continuous network of hedgerows across Dorset from east to west and north to south and potentially, where possible, replant where hedgerows have either been lost or removed.

The project, being promoted by Dorset Climate Action Network’s (Dorset CAN’s) Land Use team, is aiming to set up a network of volunteers to walk the footpaths and trailways of Dorset, initially focusing on the 160km (100 miles) of the Jubilee Trail and associated trails such as the Brit Valley Trail and the Stour Valley Way. 

Volunteers will be able to join the project walking and contributing to their own local areas and will be asked to walk lengths of the trails, survey the hedges and provide data that will be fed into a comprehensive map of the whole county.

Joint project coordinator Ian Duckworth said: “We’re now looking for volunteers to walk the trails and survey the hedges. Volunteers will be provided with training, maps and survey sheets for the areas they plan to walk.”