As World Environment Day (5 June) approaches, farmers, landowners and community groups have been "doing their bit" to make the North East greener, helping to preserve and enhance our environment.

Latest figures from the Rural Development Service (RDS) show there are now more than 1,100 Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreement holders across the North East, with more than 100,000 hectares of land under agreement - higher than any other English region.

CSS , an agri-environment scheme which operated under Defra's England Rural Development Programme (ERDP) has been replaced by Environmental Stewardship (ES). ES offers payments to farmers, land managers to improve the natural beauty and diversity of the countryside through a range of measures including preserving dry stone walls, planting and maintaining hedgerows and creating grass field margins providing habitats for insects, birds and wildlife.

Among those who have signed a CSS agreement, pledging to preserve and enhance the local countryside are College Valley Estates, Northumberland. College Valley Estates comprises 4,800 hectares, including large areas of open moorland and the largest area of ancient woodland in the Northumberland National Park at Harrowbog. Through CSS the estate has introduced improved grazing management to allow rare and threatened vegetation to recover, reinstated heather and also carried out dry stone wall restoration. The estate was also awarded funding from Defra's Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES), delivered by the Rural Development Service, to help refurbish holiday accommodation on the estate and carry out improvements on the roads near Goldscleugh to improve safety and access.

Charles Baker-Cresswell, Chairman of the Directors at College Valley Estates, said:

"The estate offers unique views, outstanding wildlife and rare flora with unrivalled walking and bird-watching opportunities. Visitors especially value the peace and tranquillity, its remoteness while being relatively accessible, as well as its wildness and relatively unspoilt nature.

"Through CSS we're helping preserve and enhance this unique environment and the RES funding has helped us improve the accommodation so more people can enjoy it."

While farmers and landowners are working hard to aid the environment, townspeople across the region are also playing their part, including local residents near Deep Dene Nature Reserve at Dipton, Derwentside.

Here a "Wetland Creation" community initiative is underway to create two wildlife ponds and several scrapes all of which will hold water and increase the diversity of the site. One of the new ponds will have a dipping platform with a path, accessible to all. The area will have an interpretation board to provide visitor information.

The local community has been involved with the pre-investigation work, surveying the proposed ponds and scrape areas for any flora and fauna interests, installing and monitoring bore holes and designing the layout of the ponds, scrapes and paths. The £19,000 project is to be funded by CDENT, a Landfill Tax Credit Scheme funding. This will include a celebration event to be organised by the local community to officially open the new wetland.

Members of the local Community Partnership have received the support and backing of Karen Fisher, the Local Nature Reserve Officer of Derwentside District Council; Hugh Roberts, of Ponds for People and Clare Longstaff, of Groundwork West Durham. The project is helping engage local people, both young and old, to take an active interest in their own environment. It will also create an area that can be used as an educational tool by local schools and youth groups and will increase the biodiversity on the Local Nature Reserve and for the surrounding area.