Conservation trust launches project to protect Upper Teesdale rare plants

A conservation group in northern England has started a three-year project to protect rare plants in Upper Teesdale. The Teesdale Special Flora Research and Conservation Trust received £65,000 from a government programme to fund the work. It is also trying to raise a further £15,000.

Volunteers will gather seeds from rare plants and replant them on the hillsides of Upper Teesdale. The area is home to around 20 arctic-alpine plant species that grow almost nowhere else in the world. These plants have survived in the region for between 10,000 and 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age.

The project also hopes to help people understand how fragile these ancient plants are and why they need protection.