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Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum (ONCF) is a partnership organisation that has been working across the county for over 15 years. Much of our strength lies in the breadth and depth of the partnership. We have over 40 member organisations, including the local Wildife Trust, RSPB, Natural England and FWAG as well as local authorities and community wildlife groups. Our aim is to encourage networking, communication and sharing of best practise. This way we can ensure that the increasingly scarce resources of time and money are used to greatest effect for conservation in Oxfordshire.

 Here's just a snapshot of some of our current work:

Communication

  • ONCF provides a one-stop shop for and any environmental questions and queries. If we don't know the answer then we can put you in touch with someone who does.
  • Our free weekly Environmental Email Bulletin now reaches over 1,200 people, promoting conservation news, events, walks, talks and volunteeering opportunities.
  • We hold regular events for our members to meet up to learn about relevant conservation issues and to network.

Education

  • Oxfordshire Goes Wild is an amazingly successful event that takes wildlife to the city to enthuse children about their natural environment.  "Took two grandchildren to this yesterday and it was quite brilliant. It works so well amongst the permanent exhibits. I was dragged from pillar to post - look at this, look at this, look at this!"
  • The Local Environment Group's Conference is to provide training for all those conservation volunteers around the county. "As always once groups start sharing ideas and learning new information the buzz never stops we could spend another day just sharing ideas and building our networks" said a delegate.

Biodiversity

  • Oxfordshire has a stunning array of habitats and species, a county Biodiversity Project gives us a strategy so that we can prioritise work and resources to maintain and create key Oxfordshire habitats and allows our work to fit into a national framework.
  • Since 2000 we have hosted and (usually) found funding for Oxfordshire's Biodiversity Project and the necessary Project Manager. 
  • We were the first county to develop and trial a new approach that allowed us to target habitat creation in the best places in Oxfordshire. Such was the success of this  Conservation Target Area (CTA)  approach that it is now being rolled out across south-east England.
  • Currently we are working in 21 CTAs with the aim of delivering our County habitat targets for 2015. 

Much more information on places to visit, groups to join and in depth information on Oxfordshire's Biodiversity Project can be found on this site, please don't hesitate to contact us if you need any other information.