Meet the volunteer helping to protect the future of the North York Moors National Park

Youth Voice group wearing their uniforms that were funded by BMW (Phoebe far left)

Phoebe Smith, 25, works for the national park’s marketing team and has been a member of the Youth Voice project for nine months.

She decided to volunteer in order to connect with likeminded young people from a similar area.

Ms Smith said: “I found out about Youth Voice after attending a meeting as part of my work.

Youth Voice at the Europarc Conference (Phoebe far left)

“Youth Voice is a team of passionate young people who want to make a difference and have an input into the future of the national park.

“We meet each month to discuss a range of things and have just returned from a trip to the Netherlands where we represented the national park at the EUROPARC Federation Conference.”

One of the reasons for the creation of Youth Voice is to involve the younger community and break the stereotype around volunteers.

The national park is now actively working to build a group of young people who are passionate about the national park and the community which surrounds it.

Protected areas such as national parks make up 28% of UK land. Securing its future is vital, and to do this, young people must be on side and engaged in the landscapes’ future.

Ms Smith said: “At school young people learn about maths, English and science, but they’re not taught about landscapes and nature recovery.

“In an area like ours, that’s such an important topic and a lot of young people are passionate about it.

“We’re doing presentations to show the opportunities available and plan to go into schools and show jobs available in the National Park.

“There’s something for all ages - under 18s can join the Explorer Volunteers, Young Rangers and then move on to Youth Voice - it’s a natural progression..”

Youth Voice also promotes positive mental health, with advice on how to reduce stress and wellbeing campaigns appearing on social media and the Youth Voice blog.

Ms Smith said: “I think the youth engagement project is vital as it gives young people access to nature and the outdoors.

“ I don’t think people realise that even though it is free to visit a National Park, they are not accessible to everyone, especially young people from disadvantaged communities.

“I feel way more confident since beginning the project, and I have connected with like-minded young people from a similar area to myself which has been fantastic.

“The North York Moors National Park are doing whatever they can to give young people a voice, which I have found really inspiring as a member of staff and a member of the Youth Voice group.”

To find out more visit the North York Moors National Park website and search for Youth Voice or email [email protected].

The North York Moors’ Youth Voice project is one of the community impact projects being funded by Recharge in Nature, a partnership between National Parks UK and BMW UK.

The three-year partnership will see the two organisations collaborate to support sustainability initiatives, nature restoration, enhanced EV charging infrastructure and wellbeing projects which are developed and managed locally.