Key Issues

Since its inception, the Moorland Association has kept at the forefront of developments and changes in our heather uplands, including, for example, new management techniques, interventions by politicians and Government bodies, changes in science, threats to upland livelihoods and changes in public perceptions, to name but a few. Its officers have reacted continuously to events, and continue to do so, representing the upland managers' viewpoint, as well as the interests of those who live and make their livings on the moors. Key issues continue to arise, and the purpose of this section is to describe those that are pertinent at present.

Heather Preservation

In 2001 the Moorland Association was able to announce that, during the fifteen years of its existence, the decline in heather moorland had been gradually halted and the net area of heather was at last on the increase in the North of England. However, heather and its associated wildlife is still being lost in Wales, the south-west of England and Scotland, and it remains one of the most threatened habitats in Europe. While the threats of afforestation and reclamation for agriculture are now much reduced, the problems of bracken encroachment, local overgrazing and neglect remain. Moorland Association members have pioneered new techniques of heather re-seeding and regeneration, and will continue to develop other techniques to redress the balance. One outcome of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001, and the culling of sheep, was a reduced grazing pressure on the moors and hence an opportunity to restore heather moorland to areas where it had been lost.

Open Access

Following the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000 and the completion of mapping of open access land in 2005, the public now have a right of access to privately owned moorland. If not properly managed, this right has the potential to seriously damage the fragile moorland ecosystem. The Moorland Association was actively involved throughout in the formulation and implementation of the CROW Act in proposing measures that would limit the damage, while still providing visitors with a rewarding experience. The Association was represented on the National Countryside Access Forum and formed, with English Nature, the Moorland Access Advisory Group to advise on nature conservation aspects of open access. An important product of the Group's work was the Moorland Visitors' Code. The Moorland Association continues to monitor the impact of Open Access and any management issues that might arise.

Uplands Land Use & Farming

The Moorland Association has made, and will continue to make, a strong contribution to the national debate on the future of farming and land use in the uplands. It has supported the principle of transferring EEC subsidy payments from a headage basis, which encouraged over-stocking, to the new Single Farm, Entry Level and Higher Tier schemes, which are area-based and require compliance with nature conservation conditions. The Association will continue to press for these and future agri-environment schemes to deliver strong incentives for the preservation of traditional heather moorland landscapes

The Association has been represented on the DEFRA expert group which has drafted and refined the prescription for the uplands section of the Higher Tier Scheme. It has also been an active participant in DEFRA's Uplands Land Managers Panel, which exists to advise Government on the future of agriculture and agricultural support systems for the moorland farmer. The Association believes firmly that an active and healthy agriculture sector is vital for the future management of heather moorland and presses at every opportunity the case for special treatment of this very important group of farmers, often in conjunction with the NFU, the National Sheep Association and similar bodies.

Finally the Moorland Association will continue to show that, over and above any subsidies, a sustainable future for the moorlands in private or public ownership relies substantially on the income from grouse shooting.

Grip Management

In the past, many areas of wet moorland were drained with open grips to improve the grazing capacity. Government grants were given for efficient drainage and, while this achieved the prime purpose perceived at the time, it also led to a significant reduction in active blanket bog, which is so important for nature conservation and for providing the insects on which many birds feed. Grouse chicks, for example, in the critical first few weeks of their life, must have insects. Another disadvantage has been a more rapid drainage of surface water, which can cause erosion of grips and surrounding peat and hence carbon loss (see below) as well as flooding of rivers and choking of water courses and reservoirs with silt.

In recent years the reduction in sheep numbers and greater emphasis on habitat conservation has called into question the wisdom of extensive gripping, and many owners are now putting into practice programmes of grip blocking in strategic places to recreate boggy areas. Grip maintenance in other areas is vital also to preserve dry heath and to prevent erosion. In summary, the need for a balance is now accepted, and on the best-managed moors, owners are striving to achieve it.

Heather Burning & Wild Fires

Heather is kept young and vigorous by controlled burning, which is carried out by moor keepers who burn small sections carefully on a rotational cycle. The practice is restricted by law to the period between 1st October and 10th April. Correctly carried out controlled burning ensures that fires moves steadily over the peat, burning the plant but leaving the peat bed relatively cool and undamaged. If left unburned, heather becomes long and lank, not only reducing substantially its value for sheep grazing and grouse, but also increasing the danger of long term damage from wild fires. Very old heather has considerable biomass, and it can burn so fiercely that it sets fire to the peat in which it grows. Not only can these fires be very difficult to quench, but where the peat is burnt, heather and other seeds are destroyed; plant life is lost; erosion follows, and it can take many years for the ground to recover. Such fires also have a substantial impact on carbon loss and sequestration (see below). Controlled burning has a part to play, therefore, in ensuring that large areas of long, old heather are avoided, and where there is old heather, that there are fire breaks.

Carbon Store & Sequestration

Carbon sequestration is the process whereby carbon is removed from the atmosphere and transferred into vegetation and the ground beneath our feet; if natural sequestration is enhanced the effects of global warming can be reduced. The organic peaty soils of upland heath areas are this country's largest single carbon store, holding more 'locked up' carbon than in the combined forests of Britain and France. Left undisturbed, they can keep carbon 'locked up' indefinitely, but if damaged, they can add to carbon emissions, thus contributing to global warming. Careful moorland management, therefore, is essential. Evidence is growing that the historic drainage of the moorlands has resulted in significant loss of carbon from these systems. It has been calculated that UK catchments are losing 11 grams of carbon per square metre a year, a figure predicted to increase over this decade. However, if this loss was stopped altogether, or reversed, it would alone satisfy the country's annual carbon emission undertakings from the Kyoto protocol.

Any activity that exposes the peat soil to the atmosphere causes oxidation, releasing carbon dioxide. This can result from severe overgrazing, bracken invasion, hot uncontrolled summer fires or poorly managed rotational burns, all leading to subsequent erosion through wind or water action. However, early stages of research suggest that regular properly managed burning may actually improve carbon lock-up. While there is some release of CO2 in the burning process and its aftermath, young heather absorbs CO2 better than mature heather, and a vigorously growing heather carpet following a well managed burn will reduce erosion. Furthermore, much of the CO2 absorbed by the heather plant transfers into the root structure, which is not affected by a properly controlled burn.

What is the Moorland Association doing? Grouse moor managers have innate, in-depth knowledge of their land and hands-on experience of management techniques. The Moorland Association is helping policy makers and those running investigations into this complex area to understand existing grouse moor management practices. In order to make informed decisions about maximising carbon sequestration and minimising oxidisation on the moors, it is vital to appreciate that every moor has its own set of unique characteristics, and a 'one size fits all' approach to, for example, blocking grips to reduce erosion will not be suitable for all.

Key objectives of current and future research are to:

• Determine the carbon dynamics of upland heath in relation to land management and the environment.
• Establish the sensitivity of carbon to external factors such as land management.
• Assess the impact of heather burning in particular, and define how this and other practices such as heather regeneration affect sequestration.
• Identify the microbes best suited to carbon sequestration and the best heather management techniques to optimise their presence and save carbon.
• investigate how other land management scenarios for the uplands would affect carbon cycling.

Optimising heather management that not only favours carbon sequestration, but also promotes biodiversity, whilst providing suitable grazing, will most probably require the adoption of differing strategies for alternative sites. Achieving a multi-benefit, integrated approach that is acceptable to all stakeholders in the uplands should be an achievable goal, and one that preserves this unique environment and safeguards carbon stocks.