Simon Thomas

Today, we're celebrating one of our own - our fantastic Lead Peatland Restoration Officer, Simon Thomas. If you watched the recent BBC series 'The Lakes With Simon Reeve', you'll have spotted the Simons talking about the work we're doing on the fells above Coniston.

Simon T is in charge of our peatland restoration work across Cumbria, managing the care of these precious habitats that are vitally important in the fight against climate change. Healthy peatlands also support a range of threatened specialist species, improve our water quality and help to mitigate flood risk. Our survey of peatbogs in the Lake District found that most were damaged. Simon and his team work incredibly hard to bring them back to life. 

Here's the nomination we received for Simon: 

'It’s only relatively recently that the Peatland Restoration Team has expanded to include new roles. Up until then, our peatland restoration work was carried out by Simon and one other Officer. Simon was the constant and the lynchpin for delivering work that has expanded in scope thanks to new funding and become recognised as instrumental to carbon sequestration and tackling the climate crisis, and for which we're the leading organisation in Cumbria.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust's reputation for delivering this type of work and managing the complex arrangements and negotiations with contractors and landowners is built on the hard work undertaken in recent years. I’d like to nominate Simon as I believe he delivered over and above what was required in terms of commitment, loyalty and dedication to the work - working day after day in adverse weather conditions, often lone working and working many extra and unsociable hours to then complete the admin/planning/reporting work associated with project delivery.

I’ve never heard him complain, and he’s always seemed very unassuming yet been very active in engaging volunteers and in contributing to operations meetings and staff meetings, and very proactive in sharing info with colleagues. I feel that we have an ‘unsung’ hero in Simon. He’s never the person reporting on our successes at meetings etc. but has been instrumental in achieving them.'

We asked Simon to say more about his role: 

I started Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s peatland restoration project 10 years ago after a period surveying wetlands across the Lake District.

My role involves working with farmers and landowners across Cumbria, and it’s a real privilege to work with some great people and be trusted with the stewardship of some amazing places. Spending so much time out in the wild, I’ve had close encounters with hen harriers, dotterel and red deer stags. I’ve come to learn the stories of mysterious worlds, home to dragonflies and rare plants living on bogs that preserve thousands of years of our history.

It doesn't always feel so idyllic – for example when we’re working on top of a mountain in winter storms, or battling red tape to access government grants. But my team and I can feel proud that we help to manage the soil in a way that locks up greenhouse gases, cleans our water and reduces flood risk, as well as providing habitat for some fascinating plants and animals.

Our efforts have been demonstrated to be a very cost-effective way to reduce the cost of future climate impacts. By successfully attracting government and private investment to our county, we are helping local farms to get regular income through environmental schemes, and creating green jobs for local contractors.

If you're able to, please support our peatland restoration work by donating and volunteering at our peatland restoration conservation days. Please also sign and share this petition to support a ban on sales of peat compost, and add to our list of garden centres who sell peat-free compost. 

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Find out more about our peatland restoration project

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