NI Water volunteers help Ulster Wildlife in Omagh

01 April 2025 11:58

An enthusiastic team of NI Water volunteers recently helped Ulster Wildlife with an essential peatland restoration project. Ulster Wildlife have teamed up with the An Creagan Centre to transform a former commercially harvested bog into a thriving demonstration hub for peatland restoration – the first of its kind for Northern Ireland. In this amazing project, over the next ten years, 30 hectares of severely degraded peatland habitat will be restored, equivalent to 74 football pitches – to help bring nature back, improve water quality, reduce flood risk, and tackle climate change. Volunteers from NI Water helped with the removal of conifer saplings which is vital for the recovery of the bog plants and mosses.

The volunteering day is part of NI Water’s ‘Cares Challenge’ project which has been operating successfully for over ten years and is one of the largest corporate volunteering schemes in the province.

To date over 1,700 staff have volunteered in over 120 challenges, equating to more than 12,000 hours of volunteering to help support communities across Northern Ireland. In the latest project, volunteers from across the organisation made a valuable contribution to Ulster Wildlife.

As part of the programme, activities are planned for various groups throughout Northern Ireland each year and are set up in partnership with Business in the Community’s NI Cares Programme. The programme identifies organisations and charities within the local community who need a helping hand with physical tasks such as gardening and painting.

Rose Kelly, Director of People and Learning, explained: “Our handy helpers have undertaken everything from gardening, painting and maintenance to environmental and fundraising days.  It is often the extra support that these groups require to enhance their facilities, improve the lives of their members and operate their centres successfully.

“Volunteering has also proved to be a key part of our health and wellbeing toolkit.  Our teams gain so much from the experience, not only by helping the community, but also having the chance to spend time with colleagues from around the business that they might not otherwise have a chance to meet.”

Ends

All media enquiries to NI Water press office at press.office@niwater.com