SUSTAINABILITY

FEATURES
ARC and the MOD
a long term partnership
Woolmer Pond Longmoor © Crown
One of the key mechanisms that allowed this work to take
place on a sustainable level was the formation, in 1974, of
the very first MOD Conservation Group at Longmoor Camp.
this time we have continued to
work together across a range of very
important sites, which collectively form
a secure and robust core of sites across
the south of the country.
For a small organisation such as
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
(ARC) that is dedicated to conserving
our native reptiles and amphibians,
managing and protecting important
areas of wildlife habitat has always
been one of our primary activities.
Forming strong alliances with large
land-owning bodies has always been
a key aspect in this task and it is our
long-standing working relationship
with the Defence Infrastructure
Organisation that we are perhaps
most proud of.
This relationship dates back to 1969
when the British Herpetological
Society (BHS) Conservation Committee
carried out much needed ‘scrub
bashing’ tasks on various heathland
sites in Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset ,
including some owned by the military,
in an attempt to reverse the declines
that were affecting species such as the
sand lizard Lacerta agilis and natterjack
toad Epidalea calamita.
The BHS CC gave rise to the UK’s
first professional herpetological
conservation organisation, the
Herpetological Conservation Trust
(HCT) who continued and built upon
the good work of the BHS. The HCT
became ARC in 2009, retaining largely
the same staff and with a similar,
albeit more wide-ranging ambition
to protect and enhance our native
reptiles and amphibians. Throughout
One of the key mechanisms that
allowed this work to take place on a
sustainable level was the formation,
in 1974, of the very first MOD
Conservation Group at Longmoor
Camp. This innovation was down
to the vision of the late MOD
Conservation Offcer Lt Col Norman
Clayden MBE and has given rise to the
formation of over 100 similar groups
that thrive to this day and form a vital
forum for conservation practitioners
and the military to work together
and achieve their combined goals.
Col Clayden was also instrumental in
the creation of the magazine you are
reading now; Sanctuary, which began
in 1975. Some of the earliest and most
important work of the Longmoor
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Sanctuary 44 • 2015