Welcome to the Lower Ure Conservation Trust

The Lower Ure Conservation Trust, or LUCT for short, has a simple objective: 'To promote and improve the ecology of the River Ure in North Yorkshire and wherever possible to provide the opportunity for public appreciation where that does not conflict with the primary conservation aims."

LUCT is a small trust, yet has achieved big successes. In 1997 we purchased 28 hectares of former gravel quarry at Nosterfield. Now the Nosterfield Nature Reserve covers 56 hectares and is one of the most important sites for breeding waders and wintering wildfowl in the region.

The success of Nosterfield Nature Reserve gave LUCT a case study on how former mineral sites could be restored for the benefit of nature conservation using natural regeneration instead of quick fix planting. This led to the inauguration of the Swale and Ure Washlands Project. A partnership, the Project is developing a strategic approach to the restoration and after-use of mineral extraction sites in the historic floodplains of the middle and lower valleys of the rivers Swale and Ure.

As part of this approach the report, Landscape History and Human Impacts has been produced by a team of Durham University scientists illustrating how the landscape of the washlands has evolved