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Author Topic: Rewilding  (Read 48830 times)

sjh1

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Rewilding
« on: May 30, 2013 »
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22706729

This guy George Monbiot has the right idea. At present our hills are not wild, they are sheep farms where vegetation is grazed to within an inch of its life. That, or forests of introduced conifers. Both equally man-made and both useless for wildlife.

Monbiot proposes subsidising farmers to remove sheep from some areas allowing the natural vegetation to regrow and natural processes to occur freely. In other words the hills would be truly wild again. At present farmers (in uplands and lowlands) are actually subsidised to clear natural scrubby vegetation!

Rewilding makes a lot of sense to me and I can see few sensible arguments against it. I understand the objections from farmers whose traditional way of life might change (although it would be a voluntary scheme surely?) but objections from conservation bodies annoy me. Why conservation groups want to  preserve a biologically poor, unnatural, farmed landscape is beyond me. One of the latest Mourne management plans includes encouragement to tidy and clear encroaching scrub ... crazy.

This doesn't have to be on an enormous scale, a good start would be nature reserves or even sections of them. Why do the National Trust continue to graze their land at Slieve Donard for example? I know good overgrown and expanding hedgerows that are wilder (in the sense of natural processes and biodiversity levels) than most of the high Mournes. (Although these are increasingly being cleared too because of single farm payments that subsidise farmers based on field size!)

Linking the re-introduction of wolves with reducing grazing pressure is unnecessary though. Maybe a slim possibility in the Scottish highlands but elsewhere in the British Isles it's not feasible. Linking the issues just gives the powers that be a chance to claim rewilding is radical or daft when it would be so simple and effective. If the habitat did improve in NI we would probably see large avian predators like goshawk, golden eagle and/or white-tailed eagle recolonising our uplands naturally.

Rewilding has already happened in the Netherlands at Osstvaardersplassen and Holland is a more densely populated country than the UK. Oostvaardersplassen is an interesting site, see here, http://www.lhnet.org/assets/pdf/britishwildlifevera.pdf
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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: Rewilding
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2013 »
Article on the subject... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2013/may/22/britain-uplands-farming-subsidies

"The major funding that farmers receive is called the single farm payment, which is money given by European taxpayers to people who own land. These people receive a certain amount (usually around £200 or £300), for every hectare they own. To receive it, they must keep the land in what is called "Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition" (GAEC). It's a term straight out of 1984.

Among the compulsory standards in the GAEC rules is "avoiding the encroachment of unwanted vegetation on agricultural land". What this means is that if farmers want their money they must stop wild plants from returning. They don't have to produce anything: to keep animals or to grow crops there. They merely have to prevent more than a handful of trees or shrubs from surviving, which they can do by towing cutting gear over the land.

If they want to expand the area eligible for this subsidy, and therefore make more money, they must get their tractors out and start clearing vegetation. From my kayak in Cardigan Bay I have often watched a sight that Neolithic fishermen would have witnessed: towers of smoke rising from the hills as the farmers burn tracts of gorse and trees in order to claim more public money. The single farm payment is a perfectly designed scheme for maximum ecological destruction."

And NI specific ...

"The government of Northern Ireland has been fined £64m for (among other such offences) giving subsidy money to farms whose traditional hedgerows are too wide. The effect of these rules has been to promote the frenzied clearance of habitats. The system ensures that farmers seek out the remaining corners of land where wildlife still resides, and destroy them.

A farmer can graze his land to the roots, run his sheep in the woods, grub up the last lone trees, poison the rivers with sheep dip and still get his money. Some of the farms close to where I lived in mid-Wales do all of those things and never have their grants stopped. But one thing he is not allowed to do is what these rules call "land abandonment", and what I call rewilding. For no good reason, public money is used both to engineer the mass destruction of habitats through grazing and clearing, and to prevent any significant recovery."
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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.

whoRya

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2013 »
Any pictures you can share that show what a place wild with scrub may look like?  I'll admit that I'm not too sure what is meant by scrub.  Is it different to bracken or ferns?  Are brambles a native to these parts and would you advocate letting it have a free reign?  It does seen strange that there aren't some areas that are allowed to develop naturally. 

In the photo below in the foreground you'll see that the land is all covered in ferns (?) with small tracks that cut through it.  This was a picture I took in Shropshire and that particular area had a large area like that.  You can see the contrast with the next hill over which is occupied by sheep.  Do you think that is the only difference in the two fields which lie side by side, the fact that sheep are kept out of part of it? 

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twentyclicks

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2013 »
I've been following this project in southern Scotland: Carrifran Wildwood

I think in terms of rewilding, you are going to see a variety of dominant plant species over a number of decades. As the habitat regenerates the conditions will shift to favour different species right up to shrubs and trees eventually.

I'd certainly like to see some areas be allowed to run like this.
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sjh1

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2013 »
Quote from: whoRya on May 30, 2013
Any pictures you can share that show what a place wild with scrub may look like?  I'll admit that I'm not too sure what is meant by scrub.  Is it different to bracken or ferns?  Are brambles a native to these parts and would you advocate letting it have a free reign?  It does seen strange that there aren't some areas that are allowed to develop naturally. 

In the photo below in the foreground you'll see that the land is all covered in ferns (?) with small tracks that cut through it.  This was a picture I took in Shropshire and that particular area had a large area like that.  You can see the contrast with the next hill over which is occupied by sheep.  Do you think that is the only difference in the two fields which lie side by side, the fact that sheep are kept out of part of it? 



Scrub is low trees and bushes, in most cases it will eventually become woodland. Ferns (bracken, bramble and gorse) are sometimes the early stages of scrub; gorse and thorn bushes are especially useful because they are jeggy (scientific term there) allowing other plants and trees to grow in and around them and be safe from grazing animals.

Without knowing the areas in your pic I would suggest less intensive grazing allows the bracken to grow in the foreground.

In any area of our uplands take a look at places where sheep are fenced out, such as the margins of conifer plantations. The heather will be much taller and thicker and there will often be small saplings of rowan, birch and willow.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2013 by sjh1 »
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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: Rewilding
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2013 »
Quote from: twentyclicks on May 31, 2013
I've been following this project in southern Scotland: Carrifran Wildwood

I think in terms of rewilding, you are going to see a variety of dominant plant species over a number of decades. As the habitat regenerates the conditions will shift to favour different species right up to shrubs and trees eventually.

I'd certainly like to see some areas be allowed to run like this.

Absolutely. Depending of course on soil conditions etc. I reckon there would be large areas in the Mournes for example that would never (re?)develop fully into woodland (too wet, too high up, soil too thin/rocky). But we would then have a mosaic of habitats ranging from open grassland/heathland (including the majority of the land that would still be grazed) through to thicker heathland, low scrub and mature woodland.

Conservation organisations could already be doing this on their land and in some limited cases possibly are. Farmers should be given the option to leave small areas ungrazed instead of paying them to clear any natural vegetation. It is not rocket science.

That Carrifran site looks class! I would love to see a project like this in NI but even small patches spread across our uplands could make a differences to biodiversity and we would at least have wee patches that were truly wild.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2013 by sjh1 »
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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: Rewilding
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2013 »
Below is a link to photos showing the effects of the Single Farm Payment in lowland areas. This hedge had been left to grow wild for at least 15 years. It was about 30 feet wide! In 2008/9 there was a winter roost of 75+ Linnets (red-listed bird species) in it. It has now been cleared on both sides and is about 3 feet wide.

The same process is happening in the uplands. Any natural vegetation is being cleared and some conservation management plans actually encourage the process!

I can't upload the pics from my computer. File size way too big. Here's a link...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62138742@N08/
« Last Edit: June 01, 2013 by sjh1 »
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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.

Wolf_Larson

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2013 »
i like this topic !!!!

Over population all over the world is the disease. Greed is another key factor, but thats just my opinion.

I would love a time machine to go back and walk through a real forest.
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sjh1

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2013 »
Quote from: Wolf_Larson on June 01, 2013
i like this topic !!!!

Over population all over the world is the disease. Greed is another key factor, but thats just my opinion.

I would love a time machine to go back and walk through a real forest.

Overpopulation is a problem and in this case greed might be an even greater one ...

But in the British Isles we still have large areas in the uplands where there aren't any people. In this case there are two easy and very simple solutions,

1. Conservation organisations leaving some areas of their reserves to grow wild.
2. Subsidising farmers to leave some areas ungrazed and uncleared instead of paying them to remove natural vegetation as is currently the case.

I just hope government and NGO policy changes soon.

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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.

Wolf_Larson

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2013 »
Greed is a bad thing not only on the land, even in the seas. I would hate to be born 100 year from now.

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sjh1

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2013 »
And a quick point on the current Mournes conservation management plan. I'll hoke it out at some stage and get the relevant quotes but it simultaneously encourages...

1. The clearance of "encroaching scrub" on the lower slopes of the Mournes (hope they don't find out about the saplings at Spinkwee River!)

2. "Conservation" grazing.

and

3. Leaving small areas in the high Mournes (such as islands in rivers) ungrazed to allow natural vegetation to return.

I suppose at least they have included point 3 but if I recall correctly it is a very minor point and not prominent. It is madness to simultaneously encourage the removal and promotion of natural vegetation! Conservation grazing can be important, in species-rich wildflower meadows for example, but to improve conditions for wildlife throughout the Mournes conservation organisations should be encouraging the removal of sheep not further grazing of any kind.
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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.

Wolf_Larson

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2013 »
I live in hope, but greed rules so i wont hold my breath  :-\
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Ed

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2013 »
Perhaps if there are enough people with enough conviction about this, a non profit charity could be set up to buy such land and rewild it.
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sjh1

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Re: Rewilding
« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2013 »
Quote from: Aragorn on June 01, 2013
Perhaps if there are enough people with enough conviction about this, a non profit charity could be set up to buy such land and rewild it.

I think that's basically what happened at that Carrifran site in the southern uplands of Scotland? I've ordered the book.

I'd definitely support a project like that. Imagine it in the Mournes! Even on a smaller scale it would be class.

On the wider scale a change in attitude and policy is needed from both conservation NGOs and government departments that subsidise farmers.
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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: Rewilding
« Reply #14 on: June 02, 2013 »
http://www.monbiot.com/2013/05/29/surprised-by-joy/

Interesting interview on rewilding in link above. Think the following quote is hopeful,

"I would be surprised if by 2050 farm subsidies still exist. If they go, then a great deal of unproductive land which is farmed only with the help of public money becomes available for other uses. I would like one of those uses to be rewilding. But how the land will develop once it has begun is impossible closely to predict, which is one of the reasons why I find rewilding enthralling. It’s likely though that there will be a lot more vegetation, and much of it will evolve into woodland, creating habitats into which wolves, lynx, bison and other species could be released. I would not like to see a mass rewilding of productive land, which will become ever more important for feeding people."

Can't see the possibility of the large mammal re-introductions in an Ulster context ... but you never know ...
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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.
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