Report calls for new approach to managing protected sites on Dartmoor.
When farmers and commoners gathered for a meeting on Dartmoor in September, to discuss new restrictions on livestock levels, the overriding emotions in the room were anger and bewilderment.
Anger at what the farmers and commoners saw as flawed processes used to measure the impact on wildlife of grazing animals, and bewilderment that centuries of agriculture, practiced on Dartmoor - producing high quality food, building important rural communities, and caring for the landscape – could be so easily dismissed by the decision-makers.
The central concern, that degraded areas of the moor, so important for rare and protected wildlife, needed to be improved, was broadly accepted. The manner and methods that should be used were disputed, however.
The report just out, (Tuesday December 12th) following an independent review of the management of protected sites on Dartmoor, chaired by the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, David Fursdon, provides solutions to heal those rifts.
It remains to be seen, however, what notice the Government will take of it, with a General Election looming and the Conservatives in some disarray.
A guarded note from the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs said only that ministers would respond in full ‘in the coming months.’
They need to stick to that pledge. A breakdown in communications, a failure to engage and a lack of consultation with the men and women on the ground has made this issue immeasurably harder to solve.
The recommendations made, however, could, if fully implemented, help to restore trust between Natural England, who proposed major changes to winter grazing on the moor, and the farmers and commoners who live and work there.
Without that trust the creation of a properly balanced management system that boosts wildlife, protects precious habitats, and allows centuries of traditional agriculture and the communities it supports to thrive, simply won’t be possible.
Key recommendations include:
· The creation of an independent Land-Use Management Group to deliver a new plan for Dartmoor.
· Support for vegetation management, including conservation grazing by cattle and ponies, controlled burning, and the management of sheep to protect heather and other plants.
· Agri-environment schemes that support the vision for landscape recovery.
· Improved transparency of the way protected sites are monitored.
· More staff at Natural England to create partnerships with commoners and farmers and re-build trust.
The Farming Minister Mark Spencer, the Chief Executive of Natural England Marian Spain, and the inquiry’s chair, David Fursdon, have all responded positively to the report, which followed more than 150 written submissions and over 200 conversations with commoners and organisations including Dartmoor National Park Authority and Natural England.
But it will be the men and women on the ground, who graze the animals, produce the food and manage the landscape, who will have to make this plan work. Ultimately it will be their support that matters the most.