111 W O O D FOR THE TREES Suffolk Naturalists' Society/Anglian Water Conference on British Woodlands October 28th 1995 OPENING ADDRESS EARL OF CRANBROOK (Chairman of English Nature, Patron of Suffolk Naturalists'Society) In my welcome to participants at these Conferences, it has become customary for me to say a few words to illustrate the involvement of English Nature in the subject under review. As most of you will know, formed as a consequence of the Environment Protection Act (1990), English Nature is the statutory nature conservation agency for England. Our main duties and powers have been given by Acts of Parliament of 1949, 1968, 1973, 1981 and 1985. In English Nature, we acknowledge that a major proportion of the national conservation resource is artificially created. Almost every hectare of the countryside is grazed, tilled, cropped or managed in some way, or has been at some time. The effects of these activities over hundreds of years have created the natural environment which we in England value. The beginnings of ecological development of modern northwestern Europe can be placed at the global temperature rise of a few degrees Celsius which ended the last Ice Age. Some 12,000 years ago, retreating glaciers exposed English soils to recolonisation by plants and animals from southerly refugia. On drained terrestrial lowlands, forest was the original climax Vegetation, often referred to as the 'wildwood' 1 . As melting ice raised world sea-levels, Britain was finally isolated from the continent about 5000 years ago. Humans were represented at first by Mesolithic societies which subsisted by hunting and gathering. Although plausibly blamed for catastrophic declines or extinctions of some large mammal species in specific locations (e.g., on Mediterranean islands), their overall impact was slight. The Neolithic revolution reached Europe during the eighth millennium BP. Thenceforward, human Intervention has progressively and dramatically modified the natural environment. The instances tabulated suggest that, across England, the wildwood was felled many generations ago and subsequent human Intervention has made significant and enduring impacts on the natural environment, including some irreversible changes. Lost species include the larger mammals, prevented from reinvading unassisted since the isolation of the British Isles. Many smaller organisms could have been exterminated unbeknownst, but the tree flora has not suffered in this respect. Indeed, English woodland has gained many species through introductions. Principal ecological effects have been the altered distributions and numbers of stenotopic species of plants and animals as the relative areas of specialised habitats have changed. Many of these artificially created habitats and their associated species are now threatened in turn, and have become the focus of attention for nature conservation. These modified habitats and species are vulnerable if the practices which produced them cease or change. Many habitats retain the capacity to revert
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Archaeological evidence for the clearance of wildwood: English examples Around Avebury - a huge Neolithic monument - clearance of the wildwood was well advanced by 4000 BC 2 . In some sites here and elsewhere in this part of England, notably on dry chalk soils of the downland landscape, natural woodland has never returned 3 . Under present peat deposits at Thorne Moors, South Yorkshire, excavation has found evidence of managed woodland in late Neolithic times, and intermittent clearance by fire of pine-dominated successional (secondary) growth. Bronze Age forest clearance may have precipitated the erosion of upland soils and impedence of lowland drainage that led to the transformation to peat swamp 4 . Preserved under peat in Somerset, an ancient wooden trackway has been precisely dated by tree-ring chronology to 3807-06 BC5. From the utilisation of hazel stems that had clearly been cut from coppiced stools, the excavators deduced that in Neolithic times woodland was managed for such special products 6 . Near Peterborough, again under peat, excavation has exposed orderly agricultural landscapes dating from late Neolithic (-2000 BC) through the subsequent Bronze Age7. On Salisbury Piain, ancient earthworks in great diversity testify to several millennia of land-use by successive cultures. Their cumulative impact converted original forest to nutrient-poor downland habitat, largely abandoned since the 6th Century AD 8 . In the English uplands - the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, Dartmoor and the Land's End peninsula, Cornwall - prehistoric stone walls testify to widespread enclosure of pasture lands dating from 2000 BC 9 .
progressively to woodland. Consequently we recognise that active management is required to restrain this natural process and to arrest plant and animal communities at chosen intermediate stages in the succession. Woodlands may require the least Intervention, but many do need positive action to preserve biotic characters that are valued. These general points can be illustrated by Suffolk examples. The value of the county's ancient woodland resource has been highlighted by the work of Oliver Rackham, in the late seventies and early eighties, partly funded by NCC. Considerable small scale Variation in the tree and shrub composition has been found. This reflects underlying environmental differences between sites (for instance, patches of poorly drained soil or the occurrence of sand lenses) and also differing management histories (for instance the coppice tradition at Bradfield Woods NNR, managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, and the wood pasture at Staverton Park SSSI) (see Plate 14). Considerable effort has been applied in Suffolk to keep coppice going or to reinstate it where it has only recently ceased, in order to maintain the associated plant and animal communities. But the value of more modern woods has not been ignored. The new pine plantations have become important refuges for birds such as the woodlark and the nightjar, now that many former heathland sites have disappeared or have
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become unsuitable for them. These birds rely on newly felled areas so, again, planned management is required to ensure that there is a continuity of such places. Forest Enterprise has taken some remarkable initiatives in the county, to perpetuate habitat favourable for these birds. The new focus English Nature's powers and duties are set by Parliament and remain unchanged since the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 (with its 1985 amendment). But the focus of our attention and the mode of our action have been modified by significant later developments. These are, in the international sphere, the UN Conference at Rio, 1992, at which the UK signed up to sustainable development through Agenda 21 and the Biodiversity Convention and, domestically, in 1994, the adoption of the Regulation to implement the European Union's 1992 Habitats and Species Directive. The commitment to sustainable development firmly places long term environmental values alongside social and economic aspirations. It gives us all - and by 'all' I mean every institution represented at this conference and every one of us in this room - the grounds to insist that, for the benefit of present and succeeding generations, nature conservation concerns are fully integrated within the development process. The Habitats and Species Directive requires us to participate in the identification of sites that are of European importance and, having done so, to devise means whereby their nature conservation status is maintained. Arising from the Biodiversity Convention, work on the U.K. Biodiversity Action Plan has become a major focus of effort by English Nature. The recent multi-Agency report10 identifies actions relevant to woodland under at least 14 headings (see tabulation). Biodiversity Action Plan headings relevant to woodland • 1 Site management statements for all SSSIs by 1998. • 6. Improve the national countryside survey and biological records database. • 7. Identify prime biodiversity areas and develop plans for 21 by 1998. • 11. Select terrestrial sites for potential SAC designation; lists forwarded to EU Commission by June 1995. • 24. Provide advice and information to Forest Enterprise on the sustainable use of forestry and promote the enhancement of biodiversity within ancient woodland identified as SSSI or NNR. • 25. Promote appropriate management of semi-natural ancient woodlands. • 26. Encourage natural regeneration of woodland. • 27. Encourage the restructuring of even-aged plantations. • 28. Support the steady expansion of woodland and forest cover. • 29. Encourage the extension of native woodlands. • 30. Support the creation of Community woodlands. • 31. Support the creation of a new National Forest. • 32. Continue to support urban tree planting. • 50. Improve accessibility and coordination of existing biological datasets and provide common Standards.
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Partnership The statutory conservation agency cannot secure the necessary levels of positive management on its own. The way ahead, perceived by EN, is through working more closely with decision makers, and especially with landowners, land managers or occupiers, towards common goals and objectives which support wildlife. We aim to build on the sense of stewardship feit by land managers. We need to secure shared commitment. For these reasons, I heartily welcome the greater appreciation of the importance of ancient woodland by the State forestry sector and by private woodland owners. Since 1985 NCC and English Nature's ancient woodland inventories have played a valuable role in enabling people to appreciate better the extent and distribution of this resource. In English Nature, we recognise the Obligation to promote positive incentives in order to encourage the management of land in ways which support wildlife. We must foster the sense of stewardship more widely in society as a whole. All who enjoy the benefits of a healthy natural environment need to appreciate their responsibilities for its maintenance. Through example, we hope to inspire others to work with us towards a sustainable natural environment. EN wants to share its corporate professional experience, underpinned by scientific research, for instance in managing nature reserves and special sites. We already have formalised agreements or statements of intent with some and good experiences of shared working with others of the corporate bodies, voluntary conservation organisations and others represented here today. This must be the right way forward and I hope we shall not falter on the road together. Natural Areas One of English Nature's new products, which is has found a ready response and a wide welcome among partners, is the Natural Areas approach. This is based on the empirical Observation in England (as elsewhere) that tracts of land, unified by their underlying landforms, rocks and soils, and influenced by cĂźmate, altitude and aspect, not only display characteristic natural Vegetation types and wildlife species but also support broadly similar land uses and settlement patterns. These factors together identify a series of zones characterised by different combinations of features which English Nature has termed 'Natural Areas'. There are 92 terrestrial NAs in England. In Suffolk this approach separates off the north-west of the county which falls into the Breckland Natural Area. This and the eastern coastal strip (the Suffolk Coast and Heaths) are relatively poor in ancient woods, although with large blocks of new conifer plantations. By contrast the central part of the county has many scattered ancient woods. Prime Biodiversity Areas are being identified as part of the programme of characterising Natural Areas in England. Our objective is to select 21 (out of over 150 identified) for development by April 1998; some will undoubtedly be woodlands, for example, the New Forest or the Borrowdale woods in Cumbria. EN is now working closely with the Countryside Commission, the statutory landscape agency, and English Heritage, the agency for ancient monuments and historic buildings, to collate our Natural Areas with the work of these other agencies and to produce a Single map which all of us will use to develop our programmes. Such a map-based approach easily develops into a system to focus
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effort and to obtain maximum nature conservation advantage, for instance, by showing where to reverse fragmentation and isolation effects to which relict woodland sites are especially vulnerable. Meanwhile, a programme is under way to provide core profiles for all NAs by September. Future work will require dialogue with those who live and work in each Natural Area, and those who own and manage land, to agree the character of the area, and what makes it special; the shared objectives to ensure that this character is maintained and enhanced; and action programmes to deliver these objectives. Action will focus at all scales, from the individual special sites to the overall pattern of the area, and will look at ways of strengthening and re-establishing sustainable management of the important features, as well as restoring links between isolated or fragmented features. In some places this may mean woodland removal, as where we seek to restore continuity of heathland by removing conifer stands. Elsewhere, it will promote the creation of new woods on farmland next to or connecting existing broadleaf woods. You will hear more about these initiatives, and others, from our speakers in today's programme. References 1 Kirby, K. (1995). Rebuilding the English Countryside: habitatfragmentation and wildlife corridors as issues in practical conservation. English Nature Science No. 10. English Nature, Peterborough. 2 Malone, C. (1989). Avebury. B. T. Batsford/English Heritage, London. 3 Evans, J. G. (1993). The influence of human communities on the English chalklands from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age: the molluscan evidence. In Chambers, F. M. (ed.), Climate change and human impact on the landscape. Chapman & Hall, ISBN 0 412 61860 5, ch. 13, 147-156. 4 Buckland, P. C. (1993). Peatland archaeology: a conservation resource on the edge of extinction. Biodiversity and Conservation, 2, 513-527. 5 Hillman, J. et al„ (1990). Dendrochronology of the English Neolithic. Antiquity, 64, 210-220. 6 Godwin, J. (1981). TheArchives ofthe PeatBogs. Cambridge University Press. 7 Pryor, F. (1991). Flag Fen: prehistoric fenland centre. B. T. Batsford/English Heritage, London. 8 Entwistle, R. (1995). Prehistoric and Romano-British settlement of Salisbury Piain. Sanctuary, (1995), 26-27. 9 Anon. (1995). First were built 4,000 years ago. Countryside: The newspaper ofthe Countryside Commission 75. p. 5. 10 JNCC, (1995). Conserving Britain's Biodiversity: a report ofthe statutory nature conservation agencies' contribution under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. JNCC, Peterborough. Earl of Cranbrook, Glemham House, Great Glemham, Saxmundham. Suffolk IP17 12LP
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i Plate 14: Ancient oak pollard at Staverton Park, Butley, a classic example of the wood-pasture tradition (p. 112).