The nonsense of conservation speak

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Last updated 14 June 2008

WOODLAND & SCRUB MANAGEMENT

CULTURAL LANDSCAPES

WILDING/REWILDING

FISHERIES & MARINE PROTECTION

CHALK/LIMESTONE

St Catherine's Hill

Portsdown Hill

HEATHLAND

Ashdown Forest

Blacka Moor

Harpenden Common

Loxley & Wadsley Commons

Surrey Heathland Project

WOOD PASTURE

Odiham Common

COASTAL SLOPES

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park NEW

It depends on your point of view, but much of the langauge of conservation professionals and their adherents jars very greatly with those who want to see wild nature have a greater influence in our landscapes. Here are a few gems that will be added to as more wince-making and patronising examples crop up.

WOODLAND & SCRUB MANAGEMENT

“All this sudden management activity may look savage to the untutored eye, but there is a lot of neglect to remedy”
Conservation in Grass Wood, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust notice board

“For some woodland features of interest, natural change could be as damaging as direct human intervention. If a site is important for butterflies associated with open space, 'natural change' that leads to the glades scrubbing up will put the butterfly feature in unfavourable condition”
Woodlands, Ecosystem Dynamics, Common Standards Monitoring Introduction to the Guidance Manual, JNCC 2004

“The lack of management within our woodlands has led to rapid declines in specialist woodland wildlife, like the rare and beautiful Pearl-bordered Fritillary”
Dr Kate Dent, Tytherley Woods Project Officer, Butterfly Conservation's South East Woodlands Project

“The area of scrub/tree cover should be stable or not increasing as a whole (to be determined using aerial photographs or from the baseline map). Otherwise it is considered a negative indicator”
Vegetation composition - indicators of negative trends, Common Standards Monitoring Guidance for Lowland Heathland (2004) JNCC

"A FLOCK of shaggy eco-warriors has been let loose on a Derbyshire moor - to munch its way through unwanted vegetation"
Sheep turned loose to keep the weeds down, Sarah Dunn reporting on the FC Press release below, Sheffield Star 19 December 2007

“The majority of the District’s woodland is made up of oak, hornbeam, ash, birch, hazel, field maple, cherry and holly. Some of these have been traditionally managed as coppice with standards to provide wood for the local area. Such management ceased early last century and many woods have since deteriorated directly through a lack of intervention”
Woodlands and Wooded Commons, Tree strategy and policy for St Albans District Council 2004

"Simple woodland management can make use of this precious resource and let wildlife thrive. Woods needn't be all dark and oppressive. We need light and we need butterflies"
Dan Hoare, Butterfly Conservation, in "Woodland coppicing project aims to give at-risk butterflies space to thrive" Times, 14 May 2008

"In the dune 'slacks' (the damper hollows) rabbits perform a useful function in keeping the creeping willow well grazed. thuis allows many rarer plants to establish"
Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve leaflet, English Nature 2004 NEW

CULTURAL LANDSCAPES

"Most of what is special, rare and unique in the wild life of this island (and indeed much of lowland europe) is the product of thousands of years of agricultural activity"
Jon Hudson (and legions of other conservation professionals)

Environmental indicators will not tell us whether we are sustaining the cultural processes that shape the landscape. We need indicators to assess the cultural as well as ecological health of the uplands”
Upland Landscapes: ICOMOS-UK Perspective, Susan Denyer (2006) Secretary ICOMOS-UK

“As the North West Farm Tourism Initiative indicate, farms are custodians of the natural heritage and environment; the raw material that attracts visitors to the countryside”
Wild Ennerdale: Tourism opportunities for farming and rural communities, A report to North West Farm Tourism Initiative, Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency, Penrith, December 2006

“PCNPA believes that continuity of management by expert graziers passing on accrued knowledge from generation to generation lies at the heart of maintaining the landscape and nature conservation quality of the common. Additionally, the graziers' knowledge and way of life are an important part of the national park's linguistic and cultural heritage”
Proposed bracken control on Carn Ingli, Mike Howe, News and Views, Friends of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park (2007) 17, 14-16

“Farming and forestry of some kind are dominant land uses in most [National Park] areas in the UK, and have helped to shape much of the landscape which is now so valued nationally and by visitors. This is most notably the case in upland areas, whose scenic beauty is partly the creation of centuries of livestock rearing, as well as management for shooting and other country sports”
Protected Landscapes, Benefits Beyond Boundaries, Council for National Parks 2003

"First, it is important to examine the relationship between agriculture and the environment in the UK (and Northern Europe) where more than 75% of the land surface is farmed and where almost all of our valued wildlife habitats are anthropogenic and plagioclimactic. The major threats to these are neglect and nutrients. The intimate relationship between the way land is managed and the resulting spectrum of wild plants and animals will be illustrated, for pastoral systems, by work from the CEH Dorset lab on the reintroduction of the Large Blue butterfly (Maculinea arion) and the restoration of species-rich chalk grassland at Twyford Down in Hampshire."
Biodiversity, Biotechnology & Agriculture, Professor Alan Gray, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Dorset - and see St Catherine's Hill

“The sheep are very effective at combating undesirable vegetation and will speed the transition to fully-fledged heathland. It would take an army of foresters to do the same job, combating tree and weed growth and trampling bracken…… We want the sheep to suppress the kinds of plant we don’t want, but to encourage heathland vegetation like heather and grass. It’s a delicate balancing act, relying on the age-old skills of traditional sustainable farming”
Sheep enjoy a free lunch to boost rare heathland, Forestry Commission News Release No: 10244, December 2007

"Most of our ‘natural’ heritage is, in fact, semi-natural in the sense that it is made up of collections of native plant and animal species which, over thousands of years, have adapted to man’s farming activities, including grazing. These communities are now reliant on man’s continuing management of their habitats if they are to survive. Activities such as grazing and mowing are crucial to maintaining the quality of certain types of habitat"
How has grazing changed the countryside?, Amazing Grazing, The Grazing, Landscape and Food project (formerly known as the Undergrazing project) East of England, Natural England 

"Much has been written about the cultural significance of heathland. Although natural in appearance and possessing a 'wilderness quality', heathland is an ancient landscape that has been influenced by human activity over thousands of years. It is believed that in some parts of the country, Surrey included, heathland was already extensive by the Bronze Age as natural woodlands on acidic soils were cleared by felling, burning and grazing
History of Heathland in Surrey, What is
heathland, Surrey Heathland Project

"Surrey's Last Wilderness is a five -year programme of heathland restoration run by the Surrey Heathland Project"
Heathland Project - Surrey's last wilderness, Surrey Heathland Project. How many times have you heard a cultural landscape in Britain described as the "last wilderness"!

"Six Highland Cattle calves are the newest members of RSPB Pulborough Brooks nature reserve’s management team!....... The cuddly calves bring the resident herd of Highland Cattle at the reserve up to 19, and over the coming months they will all be grazing areas of the north brooks floodplain, and visitors to Pulborough Brooks will be able to see the herd, including the calves, from the nature trail………'For centuries, much of the Arun Valley would have been cattle-grazed flood meadows, and we have successfully recreated these traditional conditions here at Pulborough to benefit wildlife.'"
Pulborough Brooks welcomes new recruits, RSPB Press Release 14 April 2008

"These fields are being grazed by hardy traditional herds of cattle. They feed on the rough grasses and rushes that other livestock do not eat. This helps to keep open areas of ground where rare plants and flowers can grow"
Limestone Country - poster at entry to Ingleborough NNR 
NEW

WILDING/REWILDING

“Environmentally, there is an ideological conflict between a strand of environmentalism - called re-wilding - which believes, wrongly, that the ‘wilderness’ is best left to be ‘wild’"
Why rewilding is wrong, The Social and Environmental Crisis in the British Uplands, Alistair McConnachie, Sovereignty

“The idea that habitats should be returned to a wild state often seems linked to people’s feeling that semi-natural habitats are somehow deficient, because they are partly manmade. But our treasured wild places in Britain are in fact ancient cultural landscapes, not wild in the sense of natural or untouched”
Nature without nurture, Hodder and Bullock, Planet Earth, Natural Environment Research Council Winter 2005

“The potential social consequences of a policy to create wild land also require consideration, as it may be regarded by some as land abandonment”
Wild Ennerdale: Tourism opportunities for farming and rural communities, A report to North West Farm Tourism Initiative, Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency, Penrith, December 2006

“Replacing management targets for species and habitats with a vague notion of ‘natural process’ conservation cannot be the solution, for many reasons. For one, ‘natural process’ is sadly something of a misnomer: nature reserves will be affected by pollution, exotic species, falling groundwater levels, and will lose key species, to name just a few ‘unnatural’ problems”
Nature without nurture, Hodder and Bullock in Planet Earth Winter 2005, Natural Environment Research Council - and the standard cop out of most conservation professionals

“Rewilding itself can be overplayed, in the UK there will always be fences, health and safety concerns, and grazing management decisions”
Matt Shardlow,director of Buglife

“Nor, sadly, is there a guarantee that re-wilding could provide the conditions needed to help wildlife adapt to climate change……….The absence of large herbivores in our environment (other than as livestock) means that the landscape we create by re-wilding is unlikely to resemble the conditions in which much of our wildlife evolved. This means that we cannot be certain that such an approach would actually aid the survival of species in the countryside”
Climate Change: wildlife and adaptation - 20 tough questions, 20 rough answers, RSPB Sept 2007

FISHERIES AND MARINE PROTECTION

“Another conceptualisation of the ecosystem approach amongst some interviewees was revealed by their arguments that fishing stocks and grounds is necessary to avoid them ‘stagnating’ and becoming infested by ‘vermin’ like starfish and anemones”
Fishing industry and related perspectives on the issues raised by no-take marine protected area proposals – article by P.J.S. Jones in Marine Policy

“Fishermen are like the farmers of the sea in that they turn the ground over, thin the stocks and help maintain productivity
ibid.

“Areas impacted by scallop dredgers simply support different communities and are modified rather than damaged. We accept semi-natural, ie modified, terrestrial habitats such as meadows, so why not accept the value of modified marine habitats?”
ibid.

“Many fishing industry representatives feel a sense of proprietorship, if not ownership, over the seas they fish and are very resistant to the extension to the marine environment of the ‘terrestrial’ protected areas approach and related biodiversity conservation objectives”
ibid. Since fisherman think they are the farmers of the sea (see above) then they already carry out a terrestrial protected area approach!

CHALK/LIMESTONE

St Catherine's Hill

"St Catherine's is a site of special scientific interest because it is chalk grassland created and maintained by sheep grazing on it”
Mark Langford, Reserves Officer, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, in Owners take the lead in dog walking protest, this is Hampshire 2006

"In order to maintain a species-rich sward and its associated insects and other invertebrates, calcareous grassland requires active management. Without management it rapidly becomes dominated by stands of rank grasses, such as Tor-grass. These grasses, together with the build up of dead plant matter, suppress less vigorous species and lower the diversity of the site. Eventually, the site will scrub over. Traditionally, management is achieved by grazing.”
A statement of English Nature’s views about the management of St. Catherine’s Hill SSSI

“Analysis of management data from sites where P. coridon was monitored over the 1990s indicated that successful management for the butterfly was dependent upon an integrated approach to stock grazing, scrub clearance and Rabbit control. Proactive management change was a feature at sites where the P. coridon population increased. At the sites investigated, the single most important factor influencing management success was the extent to which grazing levels (of stock and rabbits) were controlled and fine-tuned”
The changing status of the Chalkhill Blue butterfly Polyommatus coridon in the UK and the impacts of conservation policy, designation, land-use and management, Brereton, Warren & Stewart, Biological Conservation

"The third phase is the manipulation of management techniques to drive the development of the plant and animal communities towards the desired grassland types. The most commonly used methods on chalk grassland are mowing or grazing, with grazing generally considered to give the most desirable grassland
Twyford Down project, Dase Studies, Flora locale

"Join Reserves Officer Mark Langford at St Catherine’s Hill Wildlife Reserve, as the Wildlife Trust flock of Shetland Sheep are allowed to free-range graze this 120 acre chalk grassland Site of Special Scientific Interest. Staff will be on hand to talk about the valuable work that the sheep do on the reserve”
Born to be Wild (Winchester), Event Details (2006) Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust

Portsdown Hill

”Recently, English Nature together with Defra RDS and Portsmouth City Council have carefully invested time and money to set about reversing the habitat decline and establish a stable positive management regime. In the last few months, English Nature and the City Council jointly purchased an AEBI scrub clearer which is now making a big dent in the scrub cover”
Scrub clearance on Portsdown Hill SSSI, Local News, Hampshire and Isle of Wight team, English Nature, April 2004

HEATHLAND

Ashdown Forest

“Chainsaws clearing trees in winter and tractors mowing bracken in summer: this stops them shading rare plants and keeps the heathand healthy”
What will I hear? Ashdown Forest, High Weald AONB

“Mr Marrable said that the only overall outcome is that the Forest’s heathlands are in ‘favourable condition’; this will have to be achieved whether or not there is an HLS agreement in place. ‘Favourable condition’ is not negotiable”
Minutes of the Conservation committee meeting of the Board of Conservators of Ashdown Forest, September 2006

"The Ashdown Forest has very little ancient woodland. Secondary woodland has very little bio-diversity value"
Public Consultation Process, Danehill and Chelwood Gate Workshop No 6 held Tuesday 19 June 2007 at the Danehill Memorial Hll, Danehill

"I am an ornithologist. Secondary woodland is bad news for birds, however heathland is rich in rare bird life"
Public Consultation Process, Danehill and Chelwood Gate Workshop No 6 held Tuesday 19 June 2007 at the Danehill Memorial Hll, Danehill

“Q.Why fell oaks and not Scots Pine as Scots Pine are not indigenous to the area? A. Scots Pine are heathland trees”
Transcript of Ashdown Forest Workshop – Public Consultation Process held on 8 May 2007 at All Saints Church Centre Crowborough

"Q. Why fell oak and beech and not Scots pine? A. All may invade heathland but the last is the least ‘threatening’: its leaf fall does not substantially change the soil and its control is far easier since, once cut, it does not regrow”
Frequently Asked Questions –derived from Stakeholder Engagement meetings 2007

Blacka Moor

"The trees and shrubs have the potential to alter the soils by cycling nutrients from deeper down, and making them unsuitable for heathland, so restoration would then be difficult, if not impossible"
Blacka Moor Grazing Impact Assessment, Penny Anderson Associates, 2006

“The main concern is that the soil is changing from a nutrient-poor acid soil (ideal for heathers and bilberry) to a nutrient rich soil (ideal for woodland and bracken) and cattle grazing is a proven method for reducing the build up of nutrients and enhancing diversity of plant and animal species”
Annabelle Kennedy, Reserves Manager Blacka Moor, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, in a letter to the Reserve Advisory Group, 12 February 2007

"It is widely recognised that grazing is a proven cost-effective and efficient method of controlling invasive plant species, when applied alongside other techniques”
Jean Glasscock, Sheffield City Council ecologist 2007

“To restore to favourable condition the dry dwarf shrub heath/short acid grassland mosaic: The extent of moorland vegetation and its associated specific floral and faunal interests will be maintained through extensive stock grazing by sheep or cattle. The maintenance of adequate grazing may require the provision of infrastructure such as fencing or water supplies”
Objectives for SSSI interest features, Blackamoor Heath, English Nature

"The habitat structure was not considered to be suitable for lapwing, curlew or golden plover, but could be suitable for ring ouzel, merlin and twite (although none have been recorded in the surveys described above)…..It is against this background that the programme to introduce cattle grazing as an essential part of the recovery plan has been researched and developed by the SWT"
Blacka Moor Grazing Impact Assessment, Penny Anderson Associates, 2006

“The decision to graze cattle has been made with the support of Natural England (formerly English Nature), Peak District National Park Authority, Sheffield City Council, the Rural Development Service, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England /Friends of the Peak District and SWT's Nature Reserves Steering Group and Trustees”
But not with the support of local people! - Annabelle Kennedy, Reserves Manager Blacka Moor, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, in a letter to the Reserve Advisory Group, 12 February 2007

Harpenden Common

"Harpenden Common is no longer grazed and trees and scrub have encroached over former meadows and heath with a detrimental impact on the natural wildlife"
They couldn’t see the trees for the wood, Countryside Management Service Spring newsletter 2008

Loxley & Wadlsey Commons

"Encourage some of the non-veteran oaks to develop veteran characteristics. Techniques include pollarding, breaking branches and making holes to initiate rot"
The Future of Wadsley and Loxley Commons, Management Action Plan 2004, Wadsley and Loxley Commons Advisory Group

"I have been walking the Commons for forty years and have seen the encroachment of the birch trees over that time. There were no trees on what were the playing fields years ago. GET THEM OFF they are nothing but weeds and aren't even native to this country"
Ellesmere 2-08, Help save Loxley & Wadsley Common, Sheffield Forum

"As the notices placed on the commons describe, the areas felled in the past few seasons are now at the point where they can be sprayed and/or burned prior to reseeding or recolonisation. Thereby the plan in those areas enters a more 'creative/constructive' phase"
Extract from a briefing paper on management of Loxley & Wadsley Common, sanman, 2-08, Help save Loxley & Wadsley Common, Sheffield Forum

"The council, the Rangers and the commoners need to balance the needs of the wildlife, the people who use the common and and the council tax payer. Some comments on this thread have been totally ignorant of the role of countryside management"
Wendyb1966, 2-08, Help save Loxley & Wadsley Common, Sheffield Forum

"The only way to restore the heather and the views is to fell the birch trees.  If felling is not carried out, the normal alternative is to have the area grazed by a herd of cattle. While the work is being carried out, it is unavoidable that the Common will look untidy"
Hannah Isherwood, Hon Secretary, Wadsley & Loxley Commoners – on a poster on the commons

Surrey Heathland Project

"A major part of heathland management is removing young trees (often referred to as 'scrub') to prevent the heathland being lost to developing poor quality woodland.

In Surrey, the main problem tree species are Scots pine and birch, sometimes also oak and sallow. A major part of heathland management is preventing these trees from taking over. Pines, when cut close to the ground do not survive but other species 'coppice', sending up several new shoots. In order to kill this scrub, it is usually necessary to treat the cut stump or the regrowth with a herbicide such as 'Roundup'. Where there is grazing, this might control the regrowth and kill the stump without the need for chemical.

When invading trees have taken over heathland, this 'secondary woodland '(so called to distinguish it from 'ancient woodland' which has a much longer history and is much richer in wildlife) can be restored to heather"
Tree and scrub clearance, heather cutting, turf stripping and grazing, Heathland management, Surrey Heathland Project

WOOD PASTURE

Odiham Common

“Over time, the Common will become less accessible to local residents. The woodland will fill up with dense holly and other shrubs making it more difficult to walk through……….We believe that without grazing management holly bushes and dense shrubs will form an impenetrable barrier in the woods....We consider that the re-instatement of grazing management at Odiham Common would increase the ease of accessibility
Setback to plan for Odiham Common, Local
News, Hampshire and Isle of Wight team press release. English Nature July 2003

COASTAL SLOPES  NEW

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

"In the 1980s it was recognised that the coastal belt was beginning to be dominated by scrub species such as gorse, bracken and bramble. These species have changed the landscape from a patchwork of habitats to a monotonous expanse with reduced biodiversity"
How is this habitat threatened? Coastal slopes, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority

"Much of the cliff land has therefore been fenced off from the richer inland pastures, leaving it effectively abandoned"
Conserving the Coastal Slopes 1999-2002, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, 2003

"Dramatic results have been seen on even the most neglected and rank grasslands. Ponies are valuable for winter grazing as they will eat less palatable grasses left from the previous season"
Conserving the Coastal Slopes 1999-2002, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, 2003

“Those plant communities not requiring management are mostly restricted to a very narrow band along the most seaward slopes and to areas where most types of stock are least likely to venture. Thus most sites require grazing; the majority of the area of the majority of sites has been found to require management”
Does the site need grazing? On the flowchart in Conserving the Coastal Slopes 1999-2002, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, 2003

"Ideal management was identified as being summer-grazing with heavier animals to tackle the rank vegetation, combined with winterburning of the gorse to create a more balanced habitat mosaic and better access around the site"
Trefrane Farm, Newgale. Case Study in Conserving the Coastal Slopes 1999-2002, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, 2003

"We have been involved with the coastal slopes scheme for several years now, and in that time much of our cliff land, which had been abandoned over 10 years previously, has once again become an integral part of our farming system"
The Morgan Family, Hill Farm, Manorbier, in Conserving the Coastal Slopes 1999-2002, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, 2003

"Biological monitoring of the effects of grazing is essential to ensure that management is delivering and on track. This can range from simply taking photographs to complex vegetational studies, depending on time constraints, survey/monitoring skills of staff and the importance of the species/habitats on the site. There is much debate on the best way to do this!"
Monitoring. On the flowchart in Conserving the Coastal Slopes 1999-2002, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, 2003

url:www.self-willed-land.org.uk/skcollob.htm

www.self-willed-land.org.uk  mark.fisher@self-willed-land.org.uk

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