THE DUCHY OF CORNWALL HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW VISION FOR DARTMOOR ✨️
Designed as a 20-year roadmap, the Vision outlines a set of guiding principles to inform the future environmental management of the Duchy’s Dartmoor estate. Prioritising a holistic approach, these principles address the need for :
• restoring and enhancing the resilience of the natural landscape; promoting sustainable farming and land use practices (through efforts including ecologically led grazing and the prioritisation of native, species-rich grasslands)
• engaging the local community (through initiatives like developing a rural skills pool and providing affordable housing for landscape managers and retiring workers).
While specific to Dartmoor, the Vision also lays a foundation for other UK wide environmental management plans, highlighting how wild landscapes across the country and beyond can adapt to climate change, sustain rural life and biodiversity, and benefit from a collaborative approach which builds upon knowledge of a wide variety of stakeholders.
The Duchy of Cornwall has identified three key areas of focus that will help realise and deliver on the principles set out in Landscape Vision. These include:
▪︎ Closer, practical partnerships between landowners, farmers and wildlife teams fostering collaboration and mutual respect in what has historically been a contested landscape. A recognition that people are at the heart of Dartmoor, and continued collaboration, will be key to securing its future.
▪︎ A holistic strategy to address Dartmoor’s priority habitat challenges, focusing on coordinated public and private investment in restoring the area’s peatlands and upland mosaic habitats, vital for carbon storage, water retention, and biodiversity. This should involve continued collaboration with key stakeholders, including fire services, the military, commoners, and conservationists, to tackle issues such as wildfire risk and vegetation uniformity.
▪︎ Agri-environment schemes implemented at the catchment level, connecting river headwaters with their onward journey to the sea. These should be complemented by dynamic, nuanced grazing systems that allow sensitive habitats time to recover and regenerate, alongside targeted efforts to restore degraded areas, positioning Dartmoor’s farmers and livestock as vital stewards of the lands.
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