ABSTRACT
An appreciation of the centrality of nature is also present in the activities of English Nature, which owns a number of wildlife reserves and Sites of Special Interest’s in Dorset. English Nature uses its financial resources to sponsor local groups, for example, supporting the activities of the Dorset Trust for Nature Conservation in managing the Kimmeridge Bay marine wildlife reserve near Corfe Castle. Gillingham is also the location of the Gillingham Action for Nature Group, which ‘works to conserve and enhance Gillingham’s wildlife by organising practical work, meetings and talks, and manages the Withy Wood Nature Reserve’. In the management of water resources, as with other ecological issues, the environmental movement has traditionally been a vociferous defender of ‘nature’ in the face of what it perceives as an excessive imposition of culture or ‘man’s dominion’. Participation in conservation activities also means that they are well informed about the various environmental issues relating to water resources.
