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Wild Rivers Project - Materials Fundraiser

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Building Canoes and Paddling the Longest River in Scotland to talk with School Children about Rewilding.

In a nut shell, we aim to:
  • Build 3 handmade canoes from scratch.
  • Use them to journey the longest river in Scotland, the Tay.
  • Engage primary schools within the River Tay’s catchment with inspiring and educational sessions focused on the importance of habitat restoration and rewilding.

The Wild Rivers Project
This April 2024 we are embarking on an adventure down the River Tay on hand-built wooden canoes with one major objective; to stop at primary schools along the way to talk to and inspire young children about Scottish wildlife and the importance of conserving it. We aim to complete further education expeditions this season, the Tay being the first.

We are fortunate enough to have found a residency at the Drumduan Steiner School in Forres, where together with the lovely and supportive staff and students we are completing the building phase of our project.



A wood steaming device improvised from an old beer keg, some welding and a chipboard box

Our first canoe frame finished

Once our canoes have been fully built we will be paddling from Crainlarich to Perth, wild camping along the way. The River Tay is Scotland's largest river and is highly significant for both our communities and wildlife.

We have already booked a series of primary schools where we will be leading sessions for school children from the 17th of April to the 4th of May, giving talks and offering activities regarding the ecological challenges facing Scotland’s natural ecosystem. We will be telling a story of the ancient landscapes, the animals and plants that have been important in the lives of our ancestors, why they are missing and what we can do to help them return and thrive.

Why the Wild Rivers Project?
We would like our project to show that it is possible for anyone to take action and do something positive for nature restoration and our shared future. With the ongoing impact of pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change, it’s too late to wait for change. Instead, we want to use this precious time to do the best we can in supporting others to connect with the natural world.

Through this ecological education outreach adventure we have also raised over 700 pounds for Wild Things on our previous fundraising campaign listed here (https://www.gofundme.com/f/wild-rivers-project), an environmental education charity. Wild Things engages people from diverse backgrounds with the natural world through outdoor activities, active conservation and health and wellbeing. Their work has given people of all ages an opportunity to see nature as an alternative place for growth and learning, deepening care for nature in our society by actually taking young and old people into embodied experiences of the natural world.

What's more, from start to finish we hope to film this project, widening its ripple effects and hopefully inspiring a broad range of people to take action for ecosystem restoration.

How we will spend the funding - what's new

We are incredibly grateful for the 1,500 pounds raised on our previous fundraiser, linked above. However, on our previous Gofundme page we rather massively underestimated our own material and equipment costs, setting aside 800 pounds for the whole project and committing the rest to the charity Wild Things. We have already overspent on this sum in preparing the boats so far. Whilst we are delighted to have raised a significant sum for Wild Things, we need to do more fundraising, seperate to our previous campaign to make sure our trip has the equipment necessary to make it safe.

Therefore we are hoping to raise up to 1,200 pounds to cover the cost of the remaining equipment. This includes
  • cags (canoeing dry suit tops)
  • buoyancy aids
  • paddles
  • canoeing helmets
  • a safety bag (containing a throw line)
  • three dry barrels
  • dry bags
  • sleeping bags
  • a food budget for the trip
  • a small budget to cover the expenses of a support crew member
  • the use of a trailer to move the canoes to the start of the river Tay

We hope to be able to borrow equipment where possible, and any surplus money raised after covering our costs we can again donate to Wild Things.

By helping to support this endeavour you are not only supporting this trip and helping us to reach the many primary schools along the Tay river, you are also helping us produce a model of ecological education support for school children. We hope to use this model to continue to educate young children as well as share what we have learned to our peers and others in our field to inspire action.
Any donation, large or small is greatly appreciated as it will aid the safety and feasibility of the whole project. More importantly, your donation will also help bring back a healthy coexistence between nature and mankind for our future generations to cherish by supporting a new generation of hopeful ecological activism.




From left, Phoenix Lester, Jacob Main, and Sam Baldwin.

Who we are
We are 3 recent graduates from various environmental fields who are excited to get out into the world to make positive change. Our studies revealed to us the sheer extent of the ecological damage suffered by UK habitats over the past few centuries. While deciding on our future prospects it became apparent to us that one of the biggest ways we could create environmental and social change was through education. With a passion for nature and adventure and with a shared desire to positively impact and inspire younger generations, we decided to take a proactive approach and create a project with craftsmanship, adventure and compassion for the natural world at its core.
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Donations 

  • Arunkumar Patel
    • £40
    • 10 mos
  • Christopher Latini
    • £100
    • 10 mos
  • Peter Muskus
    • £20
    • 10 mos
  • Daniel Lacasta Fitzsimmons
    • £40
    • 10 mos
  • Talitha Ross
    • £5
    • 10 mos
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Organizer

Jake Main
Organizer

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