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Author Topic: European Wilderness Society  (Read 5943 times)

sjh1

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European Wilderness Society
« on: January 29, 2015 »
http://wilderness-society.org/european-wilderness-society/

The recent article there on "Shifting Baseline Syndrome" is particularly relevant to the British Isles. People, including conservationists, seem to assume that our uplands are naturally bleak, barren, wildlife-free areas because that's the way modern farming has left them.

However by removing agricultural pressure (even if just in protected areas) we might see natural vegetation and other wildlife returning.

It seems so simple to me ... but instead people worry about wind-farms and don't seem to realise that the landscape and habitat has already been ruined by current practices.

As far as I know, for instance, the National Trust continues to graze sheep (a non-native ecologically harmful species) on its land at Slieve Donard. It probably calls this "conservation grazing". Why?! Conserving an open landscape with very limited wildlife just because that's the way it's been done for the last few hundred years?

Similarly the management plan for Annalong Wood encourages cutting, grazing and burning to maintain open heather areas instead of promoting natural processes such as plant succession. There is no logic to this. The wider Mournes management plans encourage the removal of trees and scrub.

I doubt farmers will ever change (they are in the business for profit after all) but conservationists and those who care about our natural environment need to open their eyes.

To call any of Northern Ireland's upland areas "wild" is a joke. They are sheep ranches pure and simple.

Annual rant over.
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What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

... from 'Inversnaid' by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

mrdosu

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2015 »
I have a bit of a different view on this.

Having vast swatches of land as sheep farms allowed me to just trek through the country nonstop. I did not have to visit little "islands" of national reserves.

Yes, it was not very "wild" in the sense of no infrastructure, but it was very wild in regards to just heading off trail in any direction you please.
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sjh1

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2015 »
Not sure exactly where you're talking about? But how wild was it in the sense of wild life? I do bird surveys in upland areas and they depress me. I sit for six hours and see nothing but sheep, sheep shit and grass. Town and city parks are much, much more biodiverse.

Vast swathes of our uplands will probably be sheep farms for a long time yet (until such farming becomes unprofitable i.e. the EU subsidies stop). Part of the rewilding argument is that we should at least let natural processes happen in our small nature reserve "islands" and not mismanage them in the same way as farmers do the rest of the land.

The focus of conservation groups on target species of "traditionally" farmed countryside (e.g. lapwing) is part of the problem here. But in some cases they don't even have that excuse and land is kept clear of any vegetation over a foot high for no apparent reason e.g. in the Mournes conservation management plans.
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What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

... from 'Inversnaid' by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Rich.H

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2015 »
Fully agree with the op on this one, I think part of the problem may be that your average Joe may not fully understand the difference between a healthy biodiverse area and one just full of stuff. Putting the sheep aside for a moment I generally notice a handful of different plant types, a couple of frog/toad types, then perhaps 10 or so bird species with a small number of insect types that live in not just the Mournes but all of the hill & mountains of Ireland. If just one of those things suffered a major crash it would screw life for every other species there as there are no other options.

This could be viewed in bad taste, but I would of thought that a country that suffered as badly as here from reliance on a single thing (potatoes) would know better than to have anywhere that is so void of variety. It is a hard enough thing to live with the fact that almost everywhere you go here you are going to be looking out over some houses etc, without having to also suffer a wildless landscape to boot.
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whoRya

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2015 »
I can see what Mrdosu means and I'm sure his experience hiking in other areas has been different.  It does seem that in some countries you just stay on trails.  It seems a bit bizarre to have better developed/preserved wild areas if you sometimes aren't permitted to step off a trail and enjoy that benefit.

Obviously this isn't an either/or situation between wild land with restrictions and open land sheep farms.

I suppose it would be nice if some areas of the Mournes got a little bit wilder or more diverse.  Even little pockets to start with.  It is always quite obvious when you come across something different in the Mournes, like a random tree or some ferns.  There are some areas that are a bit different. 

Ben Crom Mountain
There are small patches on the side of Ben Crom where trees are starting to grow (the darker green patches to the right of the Ben Crom River on the following photograph).  I don't know why this bit has developed, perhaps it was fenced off at a stage.  I don't think the fence is fully in tact now.



Spinkwee River
Some trees on the embankment but also along the top of it along with ferns.


Round Seefin

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"Not all those who wander are lost."

sjh1

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2015 »
Interesting stuff whoRya and there is another gully to the west of Spinkwee river that also has some native trees. I've often wanted to check out the gullies and steeper slopes around Ben Crom to see what sort of vegetation survives up there.

Bracken (ferns) and gorse (or whins) are some of the first species to colonise land that gets a break from agriculture. In return they get called "weeds" or "invasives" (despite both being native plants) even by many conservationists. But they (especially the jeggy gorse) provide a bit of shelter for tree saplings to grow safe from grazers. Gorse is good for nesting birds too.

Mournes aren't quite as bad as parts of the Antrim Hills btw ... at least there's still heather up the Mournes...
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What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

... from 'Inversnaid' by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

velvetmonkey

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2015 »
Here's some food for thought................

It's pretty safe to say that man has shaped his environment ever since he worked out how to shake a stick.
Whether it's through farming, clearing vegetation or changing the fauna structure through hunting etc. any sustained contact with the land results in change of some description.
It's also fair to say that the ecological cost of such interaction is usually quite high.
Perhaps it boils down to this - are we able to interact with our environment without impacting and therefore changing it?

There is an argument that the "natural" state of any environment is one of constant flux.

Our wish to re-wild the Mournes, or any other area, is an attempt to revert to a particular moment in the past.
We all may wish for less sheep and more trees, but if the Mournes were left completely to their own devices for a generation - the result would be as "unnatural" as what we have today.

Any attempt to revert an area back to it's "wild" state is futile. It would only be a reflection of what was there 500 yrs ago, 200 yrs ago, 1,500 yrs ago etc. Pick one - at the end of the day your idea of "wild" will differ to the guy next to you, and who's to say their idea is best?

I'm all for a "wilder" landscape - if it were up to me, we'd all be walking round in fur and hunting with spears. However, I'm not in charge, and never plan to be, so no need to get rid of your Berghaus thermal layers just yet.

We all like our gadgets - if we want to continue to have them and use them, perhaps we'll have to put up with things like wind farms and sheep on hills..................
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sjh1

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2015 »
Quote from: velvetmonkey on February 02, 2015
We all may wish for less sheep and more trees, but if the Mournes were left completely to their own devices for a generation - the result would be as "unnatural" as what we have today.

Any attempt to revert an area back to it's "wild" state is futile. It would only be a reflection of what was there 500 yrs ago, 200 yrs ago, 1,500 yrs ago etc. Pick one - at the end of the day your idea of "wild" will differ to the guy next to you, and who's to say their idea is best?

I agree with you that humans have always altered the landscape.

I don't think rewilding necessarily involves reverting back to any particular date. However much I'd love it I'm not arguing for reintroduction of large predators to uplands in NI for instance. There just isn't enough space. Already I suspect the low breeding success of reintroduced golden eagles in Co. Donegal and white-tailed eagles in Co. Kerry is due to lack of natural prey in the depleted uplands there. And I don't know about Kerry but Donegal certainly has a greater variety of upland habitats than most places in NI. I've heard that the golden eagles that nested on Fair Head in the 1950s used to fly across to Scotland to hunt - and I'd readily believe it as they would have struggled to find much food in our countryside.

I think rewilding should involve letting as many natural processes happen as possible. In the case of our uplands specifically regeneration of vegetation. This would boost existing invertebrate, bird and mammal populations that have evolved to live in such habitats. Surely uplands with a greater variety of plants and animals are better (and wilder) than a bare landscape supporting sheep to the near exclusion of all else?

I especially like former human sites that have been reclaimed by the wild. Look at the Chernobyl exclusion zone - bears, wolves and white-tailed eagles seem to find radiation from a nuclear disaster less harmful than the prior agricultural and industrial land use! (although studies vary in assessing the effects on wildlife)

The eastern uplands of the U.S.A. are another example. Formerly farmland they are now predominantly secondary woodland. The farmers moved west when farming became unprofitable (I somehow doubt there are many state subsidies in the U.S.). I don't think anyone could argue that the farmland had more wildlife or was in any way more wild than the extensive woodlands they have now.

Apologies for the long post. Like you I'm not in charge and have no plan (or chance!) of being in charge ... but I often wonder if those who are have much of a notion about the environment.
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What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

... from 'Inversnaid' by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

sjh1

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2015 »
Proposed fence (with gates and free access for walkers) in Lake District to keep sheep out of a tiny area but "conservationists" are opposed to it...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2964905/Campaigners-fighting-plan-six-mile-fence-Lake-District-fear-ruin-national-park-stop-world-heritage-site.html

"But biodiversity officer John Gorst, from United Utilites, said: 'It absolutely isn't our intention to hamper people's access or enjoyment but what many probably don't realise is that, although beautiful, the Thirlmere valley is not working the way nature intended.
'We're trying to encourage natural vegetation which has been over-grazed for many years to regenerate and hopefully restore habitats like blanket bog, which is natural to the valley.'
He added: 'Unfortunately without a fence, it’s hard to see how we can help restore the land.'"

Depressing that there is a protest against trying to restore wildness at even such a small scale! Dread to think what the response to such a scheme would be in the Mournes ... but still wonder did the Wall ever serve the same purpose i.e. to keep sheep out of Water Service land?

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What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

... from 'Inversnaid' by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Rich.H

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2015 »
The usual uneducated idiots that think a fence is a terrible eyesore but swarms of sheep are nice and rural, if any of them ever spent any real time outdoors they might wake up to grasp the concept of over grazing.
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Darran

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Re: European Wilderness Society
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2015 »
To be honest I never really knew the effect that grazing sheep could have on a place until quite recently, so I can sympathise with people who would be annoyed at seeing a fence appear out of the blue. I presume it would only be temporary in this case.
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