By Dave Slater, Natural England Regional Director for the South West
The Independent Review of Protected Site Management on Dartmoor has been published today and makes a number of recommendations on the future of Dartmoor.
We welcome this review and will consider the recommendations in detail, along with our colleagues in Defra, the Rural Payments Agency and our partners on Dartmoor, before responding next year.
The Farming Minister is writing to all HLS (Higher Level Stewardship) agreement holders whose agreements expire in 2024 and we and the RPA will be in touch with them again in advance of their expiry dates to agree continued funding for their work on conservation grazing on Dartmoor’s important wildlife sites.
Our priority has always been, and will always be, to work in the combined best interests of nature and farmers on Dartmoor. The review however makes clear we need to look at how we can better communicate this with farmers and set out what support is available to them, and we have boosted the size of our team on Dartmoor as a first step in doing this.
As the Government’s advisor for the natural environment, we have a statutory duty to protect those sites containing the nation’s most precious examples of wildlife and biodiversity and to meet legally binding targets for our most important protected sites. There is however clear evidence that, despite the efforts of farmers, Natural England and others such as the National Park Authority and wildlife organisations, the ecological condition on Dartmoor has declined significantly and, as the review sets out, there is no doubt that change is needed.
We know the current approach is not working for any party: for nature, for farmers, and all those who treasure Dartmoor National Park. We welcome the call for collective change, including change by Natural England which we are committed to make. We now need to take stock of these findings and make sure that all partners, old and new, come together so we can learn from each other and pursue a shared long-term vision for Dartmoor.
As the report rightly acknowledges, Dartmoor is a complex landscape and this will not be easy - but it is possible. We’ve seen how quickly landscapes can recover with the right management and are encouraged by the examples of farmers we work alongside in other parts of the country and on Dartmoor, who have adapted their farming systems in a way that allows nature to recover and thrive while supporting economically viable businesses.
We have spent a lot of time listening this year. We recognise the uncertainty some farmers are feeling as the new agri-environment schemes are rolled out and, as we consider the review’s recommendations, there are steps we are already able to take. We have additional advisers working with farmers on Dartmoor, including on three ambitious new Landscape Recovery projects, and we are exploring what recommendations we might make to Defra about how we can offer more bespoke funding for farmers to pay them fairly for taking part in conservation grazing on Dartmoor, especially those who care for SSSIs, our most important wildlife sites.
Dartmoor’s farming community is already playing a key role in supporting nature recovery across the National Park, including on SSSIs. Natural England is committed to recovering and improving Dartmoor’s habitats and, vitally, ensuring farmers are properly supported and rewarded for the role they play. This will require collective action and trust between all partners – and we are ready to play our part and make the changes required of us.
7 comments
Comment by Suzanne seabrook posted on
The ministry of agriculture many years ago created the problem areas on Dartmoor with their ESA payments. Farmers who had never grazed in areas before, started moving in big numbers of stock. This driving off smaller hardy flocks that had been there for years. Farmers who had grazing on their own commons and straying rights on other Commons, claimed ESA payments on both Commons. All condoned and un policed by the Ministry and Dartmoor Commoners Council. The amounts of the financial payments to some farmers were staggering. Young men boasting how many £hundred thousands per year they received before they got out of bed. The climate has changed on Dartmoor over the last 15 years. Plants birds and trees are failing to thrive. The changing landscape of Dartmoor is not all down to overgrazing. As a witness to these changes over the last fifty years. The biggest threat to the landscape over the coming years will be bracken and gorse. Bracken is a good cover for grasses in dry conditions when the bracken is young and sparse. But as it grows thicker there is no space for edible vegetation between the stalks The gorse also crowds out vegetation below. And over a few years becomes a fire hazard. Only starving ponies will attempt to eat some gorse.
Comment by Andrew Cooper posted on
Natural England listen but it doesn't hear. For the future of Dartmoor and indeed many other special places and living heritages throughout the SW peninsula this report is of great importance not least in indicating a “clipping of the wings of NE as a first step.”
Natural England needs to step away, recognise and acknowledge its past and ongoing mistakes before it can regain any trust from the land managers.
Comment by Mike Wilkinson posted on
Very difficult to see how the report conclusions have been reached. It mentions the contested views of what is happening on Dartmoor but fails to say how it has evaluated/sifted the evidence to reach conclusions/opinions expressed. Difficult to understand how much science has actually informed this work. Sections of the recommendations on SSSIs and commons standards monitoring seem completely out of the ToR of the report. Good to see a clear statement on the importance of hydrology and re-wetting. The potential role of nitrogen deposition as a contributory factor is mentioned which is great.
But without identifying the source (nutrient saturation from upwind farming systems perhaps) and developing any recommendations. At the very least surely Defra should be looking at the implications of nitrogen emissions for the delivery of the 25 year plan.
Comment by Chris Hart posted on
This comment is misleading - it is clear beyond doubt that the policies of 'the environmental lobby' have single handedly been responsible for the deterioration in the Dartmoor landscape - if the landscape (which is why people love Dartmoor) is farmed as it has been for hundreds of years by farmers who properly understand and love Dartmoor - nature will thrive. We have lived here for 20 years and have witnessed the sudden decline in the landscape over the last 15 years.
Comment by Mary-Ann Ochota posted on
Chris - just like in farming, the seeds you sow take time before there is a crop to be gathered. We've been sowing the seeds of environmental degradation for many decades now. The fact that we can see the most catastrophic impacts today doesn't mean the damage was done this morning. Many species and ecosystems can tolerate a lot of harm before they reach a tipping point. With the additional and accelerating harm of climate change, those precious places on Dartmoor have reached the tipping point.
Dartmoor's story has always been of farmers and others adapting to the environment - that's why you have the remains of bronze age and medieval villages in places that are no longer farmable (for arable crops, anyway). Equally, what our modern farmers do on Dartmoor is very different to what their great-grandparents did on that same land. Different stocking densities and livestock mixes, different ways of managing pests and disease, different food they feed their cattle or spread muck, different drainage and peat-digging regimes. Changing how you manage your land is part of farming.
What you observe is absolutely correct - precipitous decline. But I think you're pointing the finger in the wrong direction. It's a system-wide failure that requires a system-wide solution. Let's side-step the blame game and get on with the All-parties-round-the-table-in-good-faith-and-let's-work-out-what-to-do-and-quickly game. For everyone's sake.
Comment by Frank Yeo posted on
The Dartmoor Farmers and not Natural England should lead the recommendations on the future of Dartmoor. The Dartmoor Commoners Council who represent the graziers needs to step forward and independently take a lead - and not be influenced by the Dartmoor National Park and Natural England but led by the graziers themselves. Only then will there be a well balanced solution to the many issues created by the poorly thought through destocking imposed during the last 20 years under the management of Natural England.
Comment by rob yorke posted on
The independent review was excellent within its remit and tight timescale - especially as Dartmoor is such "a complex landscape" in many senses including culturally, physically, ecologically, politically etc.
I look forward to the govt's response and re-building trust.
best wishes
Rob Yorke
robyorke.co.uk