Jurassic Coast Trust Progress and End of Year round up December 2022

Lucy Culkin CEO Jurassic Coast Trust

As we come to the end of 2022, it is important to both reflect on and recognise the progress which has been made for the outcomes of the 2020-2025 Partnership Plan and the work undertaken by not only JCT, but also by other organisations who form the partnership committed to conserving and protecting the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site. In this brief update I would like celebrate and share just a few of those examples for the period June-December 2022.

As always, our thanks to Partners from across the coast have assisted with updating the plan, from AONB teams to the Environment Agency, Natural England, Historic England, DCMS and many museums, visitor centres and local communities across the 95 mile stretch of coast, we are grateful that you continue to authentically consider the needs of the Site in your day-to-day work.

The Jurassic Coast Trust leads many of the priority areas of work on the plan and is a key stakeholder in other areas.  The full updated version of the Plan, following the review is available here.

Some of the key priorities identified as part of this review include:

- Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre continue to successfully maintain the West Dorset and Undercliffs Fossil Collecting Codes and during this period, we have been considering ways to resource this more effectively. Building on our last update, their activities promote responsible fossil collecting in many different ways. In recognition of fossil collecting becoming increasingly popular, the Jurassic Coast Trust funded an additional full time fossil warden role in the summer of 2022, which resulted in significantly increased public engagement and dissemination of safety information.

- A number of the actions and outcomes referenced in the Plan align with JCT 's current work on the Jurassic Coast Collection (JCC). This work has moved forward, with the creation of the Jurassic Coast Collection Working Group, the release of a specification for a feasibility study which considers a new facility/museum for the World Heritage Site alongside ongoing cataloguing of fossils, research, and partnership working with a wide range of stakeholders. There is much more to come for this work in 2023.

- As part of the 20th anniversary of World Heritage Site inscription celebrations, JCT undertook a variety of digital and physical engagement activities, including a community led ‘Pebbles People’ project, ‘My Jurassic Coast’ social media campaign and exhibitions at Sidmouth Museum and Lulworth Visitor Centres showcasing exceptional local fossils; it has enabled us to share ongoing scientific research led by scientists at Bristol University with communities in and around East Devon.

- The Jurassic Coast Trust were delighted to host 2 early-career scientists during the summer as paid interns; Josh from Birmingham University who worked closely with Chris Reedman on fossil cataloguing for the Jurassic Coast Collection, and Mugdha, who joined us from Lancaster University, working with Lauren Sewell to undertake Science Communication, both digitally and at our events.

- We were also delighted to recruit 10 new volunteers who were invaluable at our engagement events and made such an outstanding impact on young people and their understanding of geology and palaeontology on the Jurassic Coast.

- Lauren Sewell completed her training into Communicating Climate Change, Lauren has used the learning from this to publish Vince May’s work on dynamic coast on our website.

- We are delighted that two new interpretation panels have been installed at Branscombe and Sidmouth to assist visitors with their understanding of the coast.

This is just a fraction of the work that has been achieved in the last six months, with more details in the full December 2022 update. We look forward with 2023 and the new challenges and opportunities that it will bring.

We thank all our partners, funders and supporters for their ongoing commitment to protecting and conserving the Site.

Should you have any questions relating to the Plan, please contact info@jurassiccoast.org

From us all at JCT, we wish you a very happy Christmas.