[5] Environmental education and workshops are provided at the Whistlestop Centre in Matlock Bath, and the Wildlife Discovery Room at Carsington Water.
[7] In the early 1960s a group of concerned people gathered together to oppose plans to tip fly ash at Ticknall Limeyards in South Derbyshire.
The other, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Morley Brickyards, was leased to the trust by its owner and is still being managed as a nature reserve.
[7] As the trust grew, it was able to campaign more effectively, and in 1984 hit the national headlines when it won a private prosecution against five men caught badger digging.
Later in the decade a major Heritage Lottery Fund award enabled them to develop more nature reserves work and set up a Midweek Volunteer Team.
In 2007, the Avenue Washlands Nature Reserve near Chesterfield was opened and won first place in the Conservation category for Restoration Sites in the British Trust for Ornithology's Business Bird Challenge.
In early 2024, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust purchased 83-acre site Common Farm in Nether Heage to be managed as a nature reserve, following a successful fundraising campaign.