Lecture 10 GEOG3320 – Management of Wilderness Environments 1

10. Case studies 2:Re-wilding the lowlands

Lecture outline:

Oostvaardersplassen, The Netherlands

Wicken Fen Abbots Hall Farm Workshop: Summary, Q&A and exam

preparation

Lecture 10 GEOG3320 – Management of Wilderness Environments 2

Oostvaarderplassen Vision: “a more natural

oostvaardersplassen”- managed as a 'near-natural' reserve…

a form of management was selected in the 1989 Nature Policy Plan

- aims to:• facilitate natural processes as far as

possible and reduce human intervention to a minimum

- free free-ranging, undisturbed herds of red deer, Heck cattle and Konik horses

- one of only a few areas in the Netherlands where the lead is taken from nature, where there is no human direction, and nature takes its course

• can have as yet unknown - positive and negative - effects in terms of natural processes and the social behaviour of herbivores

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Oostvaardersplassen (cont’d) The site:

- 5600ha (inc. 3600ha marshland, 2000ha grasslands/roughs) 20km east of Amsterdam

- integrated mosaic of 8 ecological types including:

• very wet zone (reed beds)• dry and wet grassland• open water (shallow lakes/mudflats)• spontaneously grown woodland (willow,

etc.)

- similar ecological landscape to the primeval marshes of the estuaries of the big rivers of Europe…

• a landscape that use to be common along the river banks and great deltas covering huge surface areas and one which has almost completely disappeared from western Europe

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Existing designations:- European Diploma of Protected Areas

• prestigious international award granted to natural and semi-natural areas and landscapes of special European importance for the preservation of biological, geological and landscape diversity

- SAC and SPA• part of the Natura2000 network• Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food

Quality… Ecological Network (EHS)

Oostvaardersplassen (cont’d)

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History:- 1968 Southern Flevoland polder was reclaimed from

the Ijsselmeer• provide an area for agriculture, urban development and

forestry• part of this polder was intended to be used as an

industrial zone• this area that now constitutes the original 3600 ha of

marshland within the Oostvaardersplassen.

- natural value of the area progressed very rapidly and “Oostvaardersdiep area”developed into a very important wetland according to international standards

• wetlands and the fauna depends a great deal on surrounding area to function properly so original wetlands should be bordered by a dry area of roughly the same size

• Primitive breeds of large herbivores introduced in 1984 including Konik horses and Heck cattle (grazers) and red deer (browsers) to control and direct succession

Oostvaardersplassen (cont’d)

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Ethos:- give maximum scope to

natural processes• free-ranging primitive breeds

with wild habits to control natural succession

• give nature room and let it grow

- give the floodplain back to the river

• contrary to whole Dutch tradition of river/floodplain engineering!

- freedom of access for people• free recreation• attractive landscape

Oostvaardersplassen (cont’d)

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Scientific basis:- use of large herbivores to control and

direct succession• create a ‘park-like’ landscape mosaic

- successional process:1. mix of grass, scrub and trees2. scrub (e.g. Sloe) takes hold in grass and

prevents grazing3. scrub protects young tree saplings (e.g.

oak) and allows them to grow4. forest develops and shades out scrub5. tree dies to create new clearing in which

grass takes hold6. back to 1.

Oostvaardersplassen (cont’d)

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Problems and challenges:- lack of large carnivores

• possible problems for herbivore numbers?• quickly reached carrying capacity but limits

of available forage have kept numbers within carrying capacity through natural selection (use of data from Africa as analogue)

- animal welfare problems• what do about old/injured animals?• what do with carcasses? (need to bring back

large carrion e.g. Black Vulture)• fell foul of local vet laws (need to remove

carcasses)• requires change of mind set to see Konik

and Heck as wild animals

Oostvaardersplassen (cont’d)

Lecture 10 GEOG3320 – Management of Wilderness Environments 9

Wicken Fen

Vision: “to secure the future of Cambridgeshire’s fenland wildlife and to re-establish lost species”- lowland fen largely

drained land for agriculture in C16th/C17th by Dutch engineers

- Remaining fragments of old fen (alder carr, sedge and reed swamp)

- Wildlife-rich habitat though relying on pumps for drainage

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Wicken Fen (cont’d) The site:

- 195ha of former farmland owned by the National Trust

- 10km northeast of Cambridge

- part of Swaffam Internal Drainage Board

- natural grazing by Konik ponies and Highland cattle

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Existing designations:- National Nature Reserve under the Wildlife

and Countryside Act 1981. • Britain’s best recorded nature reserve

- Site of Special Scientific Interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

- Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive.

- Wetland protected under the international Ramsar Convention

Wicken Fen (cont’d)

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History:- October 2000 NT acquires Guinea Hall Farm (115

acres)- October 2001 NT buys Burwell Fen Farm for £1.7m

(supported by Heritage Lottery Fund)- 2003-date under negotiation to acquire another 500

acres- 100 year vision:

• acquire up to 3700 ha. of farmland to the south of Wicken Fen over the next 100 years thus extending the wetland to provide new and exciting benefits for people and wildlife

• land is currently owned by around 120 individuals and acquisitions can only proceed with their approval - the National Trust has no powers of compulsory purchase

• envisaged that an access / recreation corridor can be set up at the southern end of the reserve to join the reserve to the centre of Cambridge thus enabling the new area to become the 'green lung' for the city

Wicken Fen (cont’d)

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Ethos:- Putting wildlife back into the countryside

on a landscape scale

- Integrating requirements of wildlife with the needs of local people, economy and tourism… holistic approach… benefits from biodiversity, landscape and general environment

Wicken Fen (cont’d)

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Scientific basis:- in order to secure the future of

Cambridgeshire's fenland flora and fauna and to make viable the re-establishment of lost species, it will be necessary to think beyond the bounds of the existing tiny fragments of wetland

• extending the boundaries of the Fen to make it possible to maintain populations of fen flora and fauna over a wider area so dissipating the risk of individual species’ extinctions

• making possible migration between populations enabling the body of peat, which is the Fenland’s most precious resource, to begin to grow after three centuries of loss

Wicken Fen (cont’d)

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Problems and challenges:- complex drainage

- requiring engineering work to restore

- isolated nature of fen (island of wild among farming landscape)

Wicken Fen (cont’d)

Lecture 10 GEOG3320 – Management of Wilderness Environments 16

Abbott’s Hall Farm

Vision: “We must rethink the way we look after our coast. We have the vision of a more sustainable coastline which is better for wildlife and people. We have a great deal of research and expertise in our partners and Abbotts Hall Farm puts this in to practise so we can all see the benefits and really understand any of the practical difficulties” John Hall, Director Essex WT- managed coastal retreat in face of sea-level rise

- creation of new salt marsh wildlands

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Abbott’s Hall Farm (cont’d) The site:

- Abbott’s Hall Farm, Balckwater Estuary

- 350ha of arable and pasture land

- Example of managed coastal retreat• Maintain sea defences for farmland in

coastal areas at increasing cost in face of sea-level rise… or… breach defences and let sea back in to create new salt marsh?

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Existing designations:- winner of the 2005 RSPB/CIWEM Living

Wetlands Award

- In Balckwater Estuary SSSI

- SPA

- candidate marine SAC

Abbott’s Hall Farm (cont’d)

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History:- bought by Essex WT in 2000

• is being managed as a viable farm but with emphasis on improving the conditions for wildlife

• part of this work includes a 'managed realignment' over 200 acres (84ha) of former farmland where breaches in the sea wall took place (November 2002)

• rest of farm managed for extensive/light grazing

- creating 115ha of transitional and intertidal saltmarsh and mudflat. The proposed sequence of habitat restoration on the site is:

• new mudflat/saltmarsh• new coastal grassland• new saline lagoon• new reedbed

Abbott’s Hall Farm (cont’d)

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Ethos:- “This scheme solves in one go the problem

of decreasing space for wildlife, recreation and flood waters. It is an excellent example of how consultation, imagination and environmental objectives can work together for biodiversity and the public interest.”

Abbott’s Hall Farm (cont’d)

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Scientific basis:- Managed realignment as one of several

'soft' engineering options which may reduce the costs of coastal defence (in this case in low-lying areas)

- provide a more 'natural' response to the problem of rising sea levels and at the same time deliver environmental, specifically nature conservation, benefits

Abbott’s Hall Farm (cont’d)

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Problems and challenges:- generally acceptable where the area of land

behind the sea wall is already impoverished from a nature conservation point of view

- difficulties will arise where the land has a high value, possibly as lagoonal or more likely traditional coastal grazing marsh. In these circumstances consideration will need to be given to creating new coastal wet grassland from arable or other intensively used agricultural land, if the full sequence of habitats is to be re-created.

- managed realignment schemes will be subject to a number of consents and licenses governed by EA

Abbott’s Hall Farm (cont’d)

Lecture 10 GEOG3320 – Management of Wilderness Environments 23

Reading

Colston, A. (1997) Conserving wildlife in a black hole. ECOS 18(1), 61-67.

Pethick, J.S. (2002) Esturarine and tidal wetland restoration in the United Kingdom: policy versus practice. Restoration Ecology, 10, 431-437.

Taylor, P. (2005) Beyond Conservation: a wildland strategy. Earthscan. Chapter 5.

http://oostvaardersplassen.biofaan.nl/scientificcd/content.htmlhttp://www.rlg.nl/english/publications/reports/058a.htmlhttp://www.wicken.org.uk/100y_scoping.htmhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,975224,00.htmlhttp://www.rspb.org.uk/policy/waterwetlands/livingwetlands/2005winner.asphttp://www.english-nature.org.uk/livingwiththesea/

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Workshop

Summary of module FAQs Exam