The development of the biggest environmental scheme of its kind in East Anglia will be discussed at this evening’s final Cambridge Science Festival lecture.

The future of the Wicken Fen Vision, a large wetland nature reserve, will be the subject of the talk at the University Centre tonight at 6:30pm.

Dr Stuart Warrington, regional conservation advisor for the National Trust and Dr Francine Hughes, lecturer and researcher in ecology and practical biodiversity from Anglia Ruskin University will explore the science behind the project.

The plan, which has been developed by the National Trust, aims to create an area covering around 5,500 hectares between Cambridge and Wicken Fen.

The Trust hopes to expand the existing nature reserve, increasing its size by six times. Wicken Fen was the first nature reserve to be purchased by the Trust which now owns 930 hectares of land required for the project.

The site will create a bio-diverse habitat of floodplain, grazing marsh, wet woodland and reed bed that it is hoped will attract a range of wildlife including otters, water voles, and song thrushes. The project, which has been set a 100 year time scale, is the largest of its kind in lowland England.

It is believed that 99.9% of the wetland areas in East Anglia have been drained resulting in a significant loss of plant and wildlife. The Vision aims to re-create the ancient wetlands and restore habitat for endangered species by undertaking water level management works.

The talk will also examine the project’s environmental benifits such as soil regeneration and carbon sequestration; this is the storage of carbon gases in the ground produced through photosynthesis.

Carbon storage is a key issue in helping to prevent climate change. Recent research suggests that carbon released from the Wicken Fen Vision area over the past 100 years could equate to 1.5 times the annual carbon emissions of every car in the UK.

Wicken fen: the science behind the vision takes place at the University Centre this evening from 6.30-8pm and is free to attend.

For further details please see the link at the top right of the page.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.