The Yorkshire Mammal Group was founded in 1970 by Michael Thompson, a noted York naturalist. The group set out to record and map mammals across Yorkshire, to record changes in species and habitats. They work closely with the other conservation groups in the area, and with national conservation bodies. 

The papers add valuable detail on species present in York from 1970 onwards, and adds to our understanding of voluntary environmental groups, citizen science techniques and the development of the field of conservation in the latter part of the 20th century. The Yorkshire Mammal Group is an active society and continues to gather data on the mammalian fauna of Yorkshire.