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Project
origins
The abandonment of marginal grazing has been a feature of
post-war British agriculture, with a subsequent decline in the quality
of coastal habitats and associated species. In 1983, the National
Trust attempted to address this decline through the reintroduction
of coastal grazing at Predannack Wollas on the Lizard Peninsula.
The project has since spread, with coastal grazing schemes introduced
to other coastal properties on the Lizard with the use of tenants
and in-hand stock.
The project aimed to improve the coastal
habitat for some rare and threatened plants, to enhance the landscape
through reversion of coastal arable fields and to create a more
sustainable farming system that is less reliant on expensive and
environmentally damaging inputs. The Trust and their tenants were
offered financial incentives through Defra's Countryside Stewardship
Scheme and English Nature's Wildlife Enhancement Scheme to reduce
scrub and graze the enclosed marginal land.
Action
for biodiversity
Benefits for biodiversity were realised very
shortly after the reintroduction of coastal grazing on the Lizard.
Nationally scarce plants such as the green winged orchid, spring
squill and the endemic fringed rupturewort soon became commonplace
again. Today over 100 ha of previously neglected rough coastal pasture
and heathland are being positively managed for the benefit of nature
conservation through targeted grazing and scrub control. In spring
2001, as a direct response to this management, the Cornish chough
returned to the Lizard to breed after an absence of over 50 years.
Relationships
to sustainable development
With the general decline in agricultural income, financial incentives
through agri-environment schemes, together with the Trust's 'Whole
Farm Plans' have helped to boost the incomes of many marginal farms
on the Lizard. Agriculture has become more sustainable and less
reliant on expensive fertilisers, feeds and pesticides.
Similarly, with a local economy largely based on tourism, the environmental
improvements have had a knock on effect through 'nature tourism',
particularly with the recent arrival of the chough on the Lizard
cliffs. National Trust research shows that the 'conserved landscape'
is a major factor in why people choose to come to Cornwall for their
holidays.
Volunteers, including schools and college groups, working holidays,
local community groups and individuals, undertake much of the National
Trust conservation work on the Lizard. Many educational, social
and community benefits result from this work.
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