Natural England

‘Wetland Vision’ sets scene for wetland creation and restoration across the region.

Large areas of wetland need to be created, protected and restored across the North West in the next 50 years if the country is to meet the challenges of the future.

The call comes from the Wetland Vision Partnership, an alliance of conservationists and government agencies, including the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Natural England, the Environment Agency and English Heritage.

The Partnership has produced a series of maps showing the loss and fragmentation of the country’s wetlands and where opportunities exist to create new ones.

In the North West, work is already underway to preserve wetland habitats that are under threat. These include projects at: Duddon Mosses and Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria; work to protect the Meres and Mosses of Cheshire; and restoration activity at Bowland, Lancashire, and the Peak District.

Increasing pressure on land use and a changing climate mean our wetlands need to be protected and extended to safeguard our heritage and wildlife, reduce flood risk to people and property and combat climate change by storing carbon.

England has lost 90 per cent of its wetlands in the last 1,000 years, much of them since the industrial revolution. Land drainage, river engineering and abstraction of water for homes and industry mean those that remain are often small and isolated.

The maps and the information behind them will help target the restoration and creation of thousands of acres of reedbed, grazing marsh, ponds and wet grassland.

Carrie Hume, the Wetland Vision Project Manager, said: “We have created an extremely powerful tool to help restore England’s wetlands, which are among our most useful as well as our most beautiful landscapes.

“Great efforts are already being made by groups involved in wetland conservation, but our Vision signals a step change in ambition for the partners in the project.

“By showing what is possible and where, we can unlock the potential benefits for people and wildlife and inspire action to preserve and create wetlands across the landscape, from local ponds to wide expanses of fen.”

The hope is that as well as informing the partners’ work, the maps will be used by everyone from community groups to local authorities and from farmers to water companies.

Carrie Hume said: “If we invest in wetlands, we will be richly rewarded.

“In the right places, wetlands offer natural flood water storage and improved water quality, lock away huge amounts of carbon, provide havens for wildlife and fantastic places for people to visit and enjoy.

“What is more, wetlands contain some of England’s most significant heritage, including the remains of plants and animals, which help us understand past environments and unique artefacts made from materials like wood or textiles, which are preserved in these wetland sites.”

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Liz Newton, Regional Director for Natural England, is available for interview to talk about projects protecting the North West’s wetlands. Contact Anne Arnold at COI News & PR at: anne.arnold@coi.gsi.gov.uk or 0161 952 4505

For further information please use regional contacts listed against the case studies below:

Cumbria - Bassenthwaite Lake Restoration Programme
Bassenthwaite Lake is home to an amazing variety of wildlife, including its world famous ospreys. But this National Nature Reserve is under threat. The Bassenthwaite catchment is an area of approximately 350km2 including the fells around Bassenthwaite, all of Borrowdale, Thirlmere and east as far as Troutbeck. Water quality is poor and polluted, seriously affecting the wildlife. To improve the water quality it is important to manage the land because what goes onto the land goes into the lake.

The Bassenthwaite Lake Restoration Programme (BLRP) is taking action on the threats to Bassenthwaite Lake. Partners including: Lake District National Park Authority, Environment Agency, Natural England, The National Trust, Forestry Commission, United Utilities, Cumbria Tourist Board, Cumbria County Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund are working closely with landowners, farm tenants, businesses and the local community to improve the Bassenthwaite catchment.

Rather than a quick fix, the Bassenthwaite Lake Restoration Programme is taking a holistic view of the catchment, concentrating on the causes as much as the symptoms of poor water quality. For example, by tackling the problems further upstream and across the entire catchment, such as using better treatment plants on farms and sewage treatment works and encouraging residents and businesses to care for the environment. The programme wants the water in the lake to be as clean and clear as it was in the 1940s, but it's going to take us about 20 years to do this.

Contact: BLRP manager John Pinder, on 01768 215731, E-mail: john.pinder@environment-agency.gov.uk Website: www.bassenthwaite-lake.co.uk

Cumbria - Peatlands for People
The Peatlands for People project will restore the natural wealth of Cumbria's raised peatbogs and link them to the regions culture, economy and quality of life.

The Peatlands for People Project is restoring the Duddon Mosses back to being healthy and sustainable features of the tranquil Duddon Valley. These provide inspiration for people, with their exceptional wildlife, their long history and the opportunities of experiencing wild places and landscape. Through consultation and agreements with farmers, the ground water table will be maintained at the surface on the raised mire and in the wet woodlands and fens around the Mosses. Scrub woodland will be removed from the open mires to reduce water loss from the Mosses, and there will be some re-establishment of wet woodland at the margins. In this way, both the Mosses and the woodland are maintained as significant landscape and wildlife features. The Mosses contribute significantly to making the Duddon Valley such an interesting and wild landscape that is valuable to local people and visitors alike, helping to sustain local communities.

Partners: Natural England, RSPB, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency and Solway Coast AONB

Contacts: The Site Manager (South Cumbria and North Lancashire NNRs) at Roudsea Wood Base, Fish House Lane, Haverthwaite, ULVERSTON, Cumbria LA12 8PE. Tel: 015395 31604.

Cheshire - Cheshire ECOnet
The Meres and Mosses of Cheshire form part of internationally important series of open water and peatland sites. Increasing demands on land for agriculture, housing and transport over the last fifty years have changed many landscapes. Consequently wildlife habitats became too small and isolated to survive, and many plants and animals are under threat.

Rather than focus on key wildlife sites, the Cheshire ECOnet aims to promote ecological networks through the restoration of habitats, and to link them through the creation of corridors and stepping stones for the movement of species. A toolkit has been developed to provide guidance about where to expand new areas of wildlife in Cheshire and improve connectivity, what types of habitat should be given priority, the size and shape of each habitat that is required ecologically to create viable networks, and what type of vegetation communities we should aim to re-create.

The vision of the Cheshire ECOnet is to provide environmental, social and economic benefits for the people of Cheshire through the creation and enhancement of an interconnected network of existing and new areas of nature.

Since 2005 the Cheshire County Council led Sandstone Ridge ECOnet Partnership have been working with landowners, farmers, non-government organisations and community groups to create an interconnected network of woodlands, peatlands, wetlands, grasslands and heathlands along the mid Cheshire Sandstone Ridge. Over 120 ha of habitat has been restored/created through a grant aid programme including restoration work on several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) as well as local ponds and areas of unimproved grassland.

Partners: Cheshire County Council, Natural England, Cheshire Community Council, National Trust, National Farmers Union, Country Land and Business Association, Tarmac plc, Vale Royal Borough Council, Bolesworth Estate.

Contact: Alun Evans, Project Leader - Natural Environment, Regeneration, Cheshire County Council, Backford Hall, Backford, Chester, CH1 6PZ. Tel: +44 (0) 1244 603177,
Email: Alun.Evans@cheshire.gov.uk
Website: www.cheshire.gov.uk/srep

Lancashire Sustainable Catchment Management Programme (SCaMP)
The Sustainable Catchment Management Programme (SCaMP), has been developed to apply an integrated approach to catchment management within two key areas of United Utilities land, Bowland and the Peak District area.

United Utilities owns 57,000 hectares of land in the North West, which it holds to protect the quality of water entering the reservoirs. Much of this land is home to nationally significant habitats for animals and plants, with around 30% designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). In Bowland work is underway to restore priority Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitats particularly blanket bog which has suffered from the historical effects of overgrazing and drainage. As part of the project, Natural England and RSPB are entering into long term agreements with tenant farmers to implement more sustainable approaches to the management of the land. This includes rewetting of blanket bog, altering the vegetation management through changes to cutting, burning and grazing intensity and restoring vegetation cover on bare ground. This will not only help to deliver government targets for SSSIs, and enhance biodiversity, but will also ensure a sustainable future for the company’s agricultural tenants and protect and improve water quality.

Partners: United Utilities, RSPB, Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Bowland AONB and Peak District National Park Authority.

Contacts: United Utilities SCAMP, Tel: 01925 537246 or Roy.Taylor@rspb.org.uk

Notes to editors:

Supporting quotes from partners:

Fiona Mahon, The Wildlife Trusts’ planning and water policy manager, and member of the Steering Group said: “The Wetland Vision project has provided us with a range of useful tools that will help in the delivery of inspirational and ambitious landscape-scale wetland schemes over the next few decades, for the benefit of wildlife and people”.

Rob Cunningham, the RSPB’s Head of Water Policy, said: “Iconic wetland wildlife like bitterns, kingfishers and marsh harriers are a cherished part of our natural world - but they are fragile. We are not looking to turn back the clock, but to establish a place for wetlands in a modern countryside at a time when demands on our land are increasing. In the future, we will have to make our countryside deliver as much for people and wildlife as it can. This Vision shows where wetlands could fit and what services they could deliver.”

Ann Skinner, the Environment Agency’s National Conservation Policy advisor, said: “In today's world we have forgotten just how important wetlands are to us as we are no longer directly dependent on them. Not only are they naturally productive, they also help to store and cleanse floodwaters, trap sediments and process nutrients, recharge our aquifers and lock up carbon. By setting out a shared vision for the future with our partners on this ambitious project, the Environment Agency believes we can deliver a sustainable future for wetlands that people can enjoy and wildlife can thrive in, and one that will help us to face the challenges that lie ahead from climate change.”

Jim Williams, English Heritage regional archaeological science advisor, and Steering Group member said: “Wetlands are unique places. The range of materials that are preserved in their waterlogged soils provides us with a much more complete picture of life in the past. It is important that we maintain the wet conditions on these sites. Just like wetland wildlife, wetland heritage is at risk, and sites are being lost or damaged daily. By working with our partners on the Wetland Vision, English Heritage believes that we have an opportunity to secure a viable future for the historic environment of England’s wetlands”.

Alastair Burn, Natural England’s freshwater specialist, said: “Wetlands are some of the most important landscapes on earth and they are under threat. These landscapes provide vital wildlife habitats and public services. By increasing the natural capacity of the countryside to absorb and hold excess water, the risk of flooding could be dramatically decreased. The restoration and enhancement of wetland peat bogs could save around 400,000 tonnes of carbon a year.

Natural England's recent State of the Natural Environment Report illustrates the dramatic decline in wetland birds such as lapwing, curlew and redshank. The Wetland Vision project unites the UK's leading environmental organisations in a bid to restore and re-create a network of wetlands for the benefit of people and wildlife alike.”

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF NATURAL ENGLAND BY COI NEWS AND PR NORTH WEST. CONTACT: ANNE ARNOLD AT anne.arnold@coi.gsi.gov.uk or 0161 952 4505