Farming in the Uplands - ARCHIVE: Defra

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Ev 72 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Evidence 20. Overgrazing—particularly with high stocking densities of sheep—has impacted on upland habitats. Overgrazing has been the main contributing factor on those upland SSSIs in unfavourable condition— although there have been significant improvements made in recent years. In 2008 of those SSSIs in unfavourable condition, 31% of the area of upland heathlands and 58% of the area of blanket bog was due to overgrazing. 10 Overgrazing, especially by sheep which are more selective, allows coarser, less palatable species to encroach. Only the most competitive will survive. Overgrazing does not allow vegetation to recover and therefore sensitive species are lost. 21. There are a range of environmental eVects from overgrazing that impact upon wildlife, soil structure, water quality and carbon emissions. Birds can suVer from reductions in availability of nesting sites for those species preferring higher sward levels for nesting. Ground nests are more vulnerable to trampling when high stock densities occur. Reductions in food sources can also become a problem in areas of high grazing. Small mammals may lose ground cover increasing their risk of predation. 22. If vegetation cover is heavily grazed, soils become more exposed and may be eroded—made worse by poaching of the ground and compaction from trampling by high densities of livestock. Run-oV from compacted ground can lead to detrimental eVects on water quality from excess nutrient and pathogenic bacteria. This can have subsequent damaging consequences to aquatic life from sedimentation and eutrophication. 23. One of the most sensitive habitats to grazing is upland blanket bog because of the low growth rate of the vegetation and the erodible nature of the deep peat soils beneath it. The consequences of overgrazing peat bog can result in release of carbon dioxide through loss of vegetative cover leading to drying out of surface layers or in extreme cases erosion. The interaction between grazing animals and peat bog maintenance is, however, complicated. The natural climax community of the peatland is scrub/forest and without grazing or some other form of vegetation control these species can dominate. 24. Overgrazing has largely been a result of farmers responding to policy initiatives leading to intensification by increasing stock numbers. The introduction of the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance in the 1970s introduced payments based on stock numbers and further schemes for beef and sheep also in the form of headage payments were introduced in the 1980s. This provided farmers with an incentive to increase stock numbers. It was only with the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme in 2005 that headage payments were removed. 25. The impact of under-grazing has generally been viewed as less significant for upland habitats than over-grazing and the available evidence does not suggest that it is a significant or widespread environmental problem across the English uplands as a whole. However, the Government recognises that there is concern that this may become more of a problem in future in certain areas, and that the situation needs to be monitored. This will allow an assessment to be made of the potential impacts on landscape, access and archaeological remains if vegetation is allowed to grow up and left unchecked, in particular in marginal areas. Locally agreed management regimes can have a useful role to play in helping to define appropriate grazing levels that can balance the needs of farmers, environment and cultural assets. Water management 26. Government grants in the 1950s and 1960s enabled many areas to be mechanically drained to open more land up for livestock production. Approximately 10,000 hectares of moorland SSSI are in an unfavourable condition due to inappropriate drainage. 11 EMBARGOED ADVANCE COPY: Not to be published in full, or part, in any form before 00.01am GMT Wednesday 16 February 2011 27. The main impacts from inappropriate drainage in the uplands are: — Decline in biodiversity of species on wetter habitats. — Releases of carbon dioxide. — Releases of sediment into streams from peat erosion leading to impacts upon aquatic life as well as increases in water treatment costs. 28. The exact amount of peat loss from upland areas is unclear, but it is likely to be at least on the same scale as those from lowland peats, say 0.5–0.9% of UK GHG emissions, or higher due to their larger area. 12 Climate change may also exacerbate the degradation of peat bog as higher temperatures are likely to encourage the decomposition of peat. 29. Upland blanket bogs play a crucial role in water management. Up to 70% of England’s drinking water is sourced from the uplands watersheds. Bogs represent a major reservoir of fresh water. Degraded bogs release large quantities of “colour” (dissolved peat) that water companies spend significant amounts of 10 Farming in the English Uplands, Defra Agricultural Change and Environment Observatory 11 Farming in the English Uplands, Defra Agricultural Change and Environment Observatory 12 Figures for uplands are not in our UK Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory. The UK GHG Inventory reports emissions from UK lowland peat of just over 1.55 million tonnes of CO2 per year (equivalent to 0.24% of UK GHG emissions). But Natural England estimates that this is much higher: they have concluded that English lowland peatlands could be emitting between 2.8 and 5.8 million tonnes of CO2 a year (equivalent to 0.44–0.91% of UK GHG emissions). This loss is mainly due to drainage and cultivation.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Evidence Ev 73 money removing from the drinking water supply. The costs are then passed on to consumers in the form of higher bills. Peat bogs also immobilise huge quantities of legacy pollutants from heavy industry. If the bog degrades, these are released back into the environment. 30. It should be possible to maintain peat bogs in good condition and stop further damage, and farmers have a major role to play here. “Grip blocking” (blocking drains) is, for instance, being supported by Higher Level Stewardship, NGOs, some utility companies and other water catchment schemes. How successful this can be in trying to restore previously degraded land is still unclear. 31. There is also a potential role for uplands in managing flood risk downstream. Healthy bogs for example hold back huge quantities of water whereas degraded bogs tend to release water quickly, which can lead to soil erosion and flash flooding. Retaining water in the uplands therefore could have positive implications for flood risk lower in the catchment. However, there is currently no evidence that peat land restoration can provide catchment wide benefits against the most damaging floods which tend to occur when the ground is already saturated. Burning 32. Burning is used on heather moorland and acid grasslands and can be successful in promoting heather regeneration. However, if done on too wide a scale or too frequently it can negatively impact upon some species and other ecosystem services such as soil carbon storage and water quality. Burning can also favour some species to the detriment of others. It can also lead to an increase in water pollution through run-oV of sediment. Burning on peatland13 has been used (mostly in Scotland) as a means of improving vegetation for sheep grazing. In England burning of peatland is almost exclusively limited to managing the moorland for grouse. Because of the complexity of burning, localised approaches drawing on sound evidence and expert advice are very important. Eutrophication and acidification 33. Eutrophication occurs when nutrient enrichment leads to excessive growth of some plant species at the expense of others. These nutrients may come from sources such as atmospheric deposition, and agricultural runoV from artificial fertilisers and animal excreta. Species that have adapted to most upland habitats prefer low nutrient content in the soils and water. The impacts on species that are nutrient intolerant can therefore be high, with serious impacts on biodiversity. Nitrogen compounds can also increase the acidification of soils and water courses (through diVuse pollution from run-oV). Since 1998 the pH of soils in the uplands has increased significantly over most of the main habitats although there is not yet evidence of a significant impact on plant species. 14 EMBARGOED ADVANCE COPY: Not to be published in full, or part, in any form before 00.01am GMT Wednesday 16 February 2011 13 In this context, peatlands cover a broader area than peat bogs and include all land with peat soil irrespective of the present vegetation on the surface. Whilst burning should not occur on peat bogs following the Heather and Grass Burning Code, it can still take place on peatlands where heather moorland is growing on peat soil 14 Farming in the English Uplands, Defra Agricultural Change and Environment Observatory
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5 Upland communities EMBARGOED ADVA
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4: A new approach to funding EMBARG
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Tom Blenkinsop Richard Drax George
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walked they ain’t coming back, be
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Farming in the Uplands - ARCHIVE: Defra

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