A 'Living Verge' full of biodiversity
We are the leading voice campaigning for a sustainable future for the Yorkshire Dales.
Join our charity to help keep this inspirational but fragile landscape special and vibrant for years to come.
Visit our Policies page to read our Statement on Climate Breakdown
Latest News
- Need for a properly funded Dales National Park bus service*
Say it is Sunday and you decide to visit the Yorkshire Dales National Park. After a week of hard work you are looking forward to fresh air, quiet, a bracing walk and that uplift of being out in nature. You’ll catch the bus – but you discover that DalesBus is the only service available to … Read more - October is Free Wills Month
October is Free Wills Month, which means that members of the public aged 55 and over have the opportunity to have their simple Wills written or updated free of charge, using participating solicitors in locations across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. If you, like us, love the Yorkshire Dales then we ask you to please … Read more - Barn Conversion Proposals Threaten National Parks
We strongly oppose the proposals to relax planning rules for the conversion of existing agricultural buildings, especially barns, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. With its hundreds of field barns making a unique contribution to the special and historic landscapes of the national park, these proposals would inevitably negatively impact sustainability objectives and have an adverse impact on … Read more - Creative Campaigning in the Dales
We recently launched Creative Campaigners, a new volunteer network for people aged 20-30 who live locally and are interested in actively and creatively contributing to our environmental campaigns. The launch day was held at the end of July in Malham, focussed around a bespoke guided tour of Hill Top Farm with indoor sessions at Malham … Read more - Team Building with a Conscience
Friends of the Dales staff, trustees and volunteers recently came together for a day to remove some 2000 redundant plastic tree shelters from a private woodland near Long Preston in the Yorkshire Dales. A worthy (and wet!) endeavour, since without radical changes to the way we plant trees, the two billion plastic shelters that are … Read more
Our Work
Campaign
We have more than 40 years experience in taking direct action on issues of critical importance to the Dales. These include affordable housing, rural bus services, biodiversity, green lanes, pollution, farming, landscape conservation – plus many others!
Protect
We are advocates for the Dales, lobbying government and intervening where appropriate. We monitor significant planning applications and comment on many each year – supporting those we believe are right for the Dales. We also host events to raise awareness of issues, such as the pollution caused by using plastic tree guards and the degradation of our peatlands.
Enjoy
We run a variety of walks, digital talks and volunteer events throughout the year which are free for all to attend and a great way to meet others passionate about conservation issues. Getting out in to nature is also beneficial to mental health and wellbeing.
DalesBus
Sustainable transport is one of our aims for the Dales, which is why we set up DalesBus. Run by our social enterprise company Dales & Bowland CIC, volunteers organise, fundraise and publicise the services, with the buses run by bus companies or community providers. For timetables – see DalesBus
DalesBus runs on Sundays and bank holidays throughout the summer (with some in the winter) across the Yorkshire Dales, linking into bus and train services across the region. Perfect for enjoying the Dales in an environmentally friendly way!
Capturing the Past
Capturing the Past is the project we set up to train people and groups from across the Yorkshire Dales to catalogue and digitise their own local history archives. The current collection of more than 25 archives is freely available to the public through our dedicated Yorkshire Dales Community Archives website.
This project was initially funded through Stories in Stone, a programme of conservation and community projects concentrated in the Ingleborough area. The scheme was developed by the Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership and is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund. To discuss adding your archive to the site, visit Yorkshire Dales Community Archive.