Downlands Trust

The Downlands Trust was created as a charitable trust in November 2008 to promote, for the benefit of the public, the conservation of the natural environment through the management of the countryside and to advance education in the conservation and management of the environment. Our focus is on the chalk downlands of Surrey, an internationally rare habitat that supports a wide range of species. Many of the plants that grow here are restricted to chalk grassland and the North Downs support a greater variety of orchids than almost any other habitat in the country. Butterfly populations, particularly those on south-facing slopes, are equally spectacular, in both numbers and rarity. The Trust is run by volunteers and primarily, though not exclusively, supports the aims and work of the Downlands Partnership (formerly the Downlands Countryside Management Project) established in 1988 to introduce and maintain countryside conservation and management schemes across Northeast Surrey and adjoining parts of South London.