The Nature Conservancy was a British government agency established in 1949 under the

National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the National Parks Commission which later became the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, which became ...

, drafted in part by

Max Nicholson Edward Max Nicholson (12 July 1904 – 26 April 2003) was a pioneering environmentalist, ornithologist and internationalist, and a founder of the World Wildlife Fund. Early life Max Nicholson, as he was known to all, was born in Kilternan, Ir ...

. It was a research council for natural sciences and 'biological service'. This provided legal protection of national nature reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

). The first Director General was Captain

Cyril Diver Captain Cyril Diver, C.B., C.B.E., (1892 – 17 February 1969), was a civil servant and amateur naturalist. He became the first Director-General of the Nature Conservancy. Life Diver was born in 1892, the son of Lt Colonel C Diver and the author ...

. In 1952 Max Nicholson took over as Director General and served until 1966. During this time Nature Conservancy developed, despite opposition from vested interests, as a research and management body which promoted ecology as having broad relevance and application to land use decision-making and management. This included helping to establish the

Monks Wood Experimental Station Monks Wood is a National Nature Reserve north-west of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. A slightly more extensive area of is the Monks Wood and The Odd Quarter biological Site of Special Scientific In ...

, which was perhaps the first to examine the effect of pesticides on the environment. In 1966 it was incorporated in to the newly created Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The Nature Conservancy was separated from the NERC in 1973 and became the

Nature Conservancy Council The Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) was a United Kingdom government agency responsible for designating and managing National Nature Reserves and other nature conservation areas in Great Britain between 1973 and 1991 (it did not cover Northern ...

References

Environmental organisations based in the United Kingdom Conservation in the United Kingdom Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom 1949 establishments in the United Kingdom 1973 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Government agencies established in 1949 Government agencies disestablished in 1973 {{Environmental-org-stub