The Big Green Internet Project
Woodlands, wildlife corridors and working together
Michael Wadham, founder of The Big Green Internet Ltd is planting wildlife corridors across Essex. We met Michael to discuss the project and to see how partnerships have been key to the success of the project, including some helpful advice from Essex County Council’s business support programme, Backing Essex Business.
The Big Green Internet project aims to plant 150 miles of wildlife corridors, creating a network of interconnected woodlands running from the North Sea to Epping Forest.
Essex has a unique geology, particularly to the south of the A12, where there are many woodlands, some of them ancient. However, they often sit as isolated islands surrounded by a sea of intensive agriculture and in an ecological sense the woodlands cannot communicate with each other. Add in little or no woodland management and many of our woodlands are imperceptibly dying, along with the wildlife that lives within them.
About ten years ago Michael was a volunteer Woodland Creation Champion for the Woodland Trust and was out with a farmer looking for a suitable site to plant a new woodland. They were walking an area that was once Essex heathland and there were a dozen or so remnant woodlands on the horizon. This was when the ‘epiphany’ happened, the realization that we had an opportunity to start connecting all these woodlands together. To test the idea, Michael and the farmer planted a 600m wildlife corridor and the results today are impressive.
By planting wildlife corridors between our woodlands, we not only create new wildlife habitat, but rejuvenate existing woodlands and other ecological assets, such as farm ponds and hedgerows.
Over the past three winters The Big Green Internet has planted more than 15 miles of new hedgerow, mostly in the district of Tendring. The purpose of this planting was to demonstrate Proof of Concept. Michael wanted to see if the planned environmental and social goals could be delivered. He also wanted to stress-test operational and financing models. Comfortable with the result Michael is taking the next step to scale and accelerate the project.
When not working or living abroad, Michael has lived in Essex and is a great fan of the county. He says that Essex people have a strength of character and there’s a real dynamic about the county. Michael has a background in agriculture, plant biology and accounting and upon reaching his 60th birthday he decided that rather than retire to the sun that it was a good time to leverage a lifetime of experience to achieve something truly beneficial for his home county of Essex.
The Big Green Internet project seeks to be innovative, collaborative and inspirational and it works closely with two important organisations; Essex County Council and its Essex Forest Initiative and the Essex Wildlife Trust who awarded Michael with its Green Leader award in September 2022.
Mission critical for the project are farmers and landowners who make land available to plant. Michael says that the support from the farming community has been wonderful, and they are particularly helpful providing equipment and help when needed.
In the spirit of innovation, The Big Green Internet uses organic biodegradable tree guards, unique planting tools and mulch to keep competitive weeds down and retain moisture in the ground around its trees. The mulch is derived from compost made from recycled garden waste and to date, over a million litres of mulch has been used.
What goes on underground is as important as what goes on above it, with most plants having a relationship with underground fungi called mycorrhiza. The Big Green Internet project wants to see if we can positively influence the population of mycorrhiza by planting wildlife corridors. Importantly, not only do mycorrhiza improve wildlife habitats but they help capture atmospheric carbon in the soil. To better understand the role of mycorrhiza, The Big Green Internet project is working with the University of Essex to sponsor a three year PhD studentship.
An important aspect of the project is working with the Market Field Grows charity, who provide a team of Special Educational Needs college students to help plant the trees. The SEN planting crew are paid a full commercial wage and working for the The Big Green Internet project acts as a valuable stepping stone between college and work. The quality of their work is fantastic.
The Big Green Internet project is also looking to the past as well as to the future by planting heritage orchards of old Essex varieties of fruit trees, the trees being sourced from the East of England Apples and Orchards project. One pear tree being planted is called Gansel’s Bergamot, bred just to the south of Colchester in 1768. By planting such orchards The Big Green Internet hopes to create a DNA repository for future generations of Essex.
Branching out for support
When building a new business from scratch it’s essential to keep counsel with experienced people who can help steer the business forward, and it’s particularly valuable to receive advice from people outside one’s normal network of co-workers and Subject Matter Experts. To have a fresh pair of eyes take a look at the business.
Michael took advantage of a mentoring service he discovered through a council newsletter, called Backing Essex Business. Fully-Funded by Essex County Council, Backing Essex Business provides 12 hours of free support to businesses looking to scale and grow. Supporting the local economy and creating jobs.
Offering impartial coaching, advice, access to business finance and training through workshops and webinars, ‘Backing Essex Business’ is the perfect contact to make for businesses who need a helping hand deciding next-steps, support in making the right connections, and advice on growing their business.
Michael approached Backing Essex Business and spent some time with Business Advisor Andy Pinkney, discussing what steps could be taken to scale up his plans, looking in particularly at how to attract further support and investment. They also worked on brand building that would have scalability and longevity.
““The support I had from Andy at Backing Essex Business was really useful. It was great to get opinions from someone from outside my industry and organisation. When you are working on your own, you don’t have a board of directors to refer to. To have the opportunity to call someone up when you have something on your mind and to receive impartial and honest advice is invaluable.””
The Big Green Internet is now in expansion and acceleration mode and aims to recruit 15 people to deliver the project from the North Seas to Epping Forest. This comes with a massive step up in costs so the next step for The Big Green Internet is to build a co-creation team to design a financing model.
