Developing Through Natural Processes

The response of Mark Fisher to news that SWT is planning to cut more trees this time in the woodland can be accessed in full under the previous post. There are important strategic and philosophical issues in what is happening here and I had touched on some of them in the post itself. Mark's perspective is from a greater knowledge than mine of the way the conservation industry works and the ecology of these areas. The very best aspects of Blacka are what has developed naturally in the years since grouse moor style management ceased.
This has left us with a refreshingly wild character that increasing interventions can only damage. The return of red deer has been the reward we've had for all those years of allowing nature to develop naturally.

Some of what Mark says about the woodland plans is reproduced below:

Isn’t this just another example of funding availability driving wildlife trust management? Perhaps SWT have been talking to the other SWT – Staffordshire WT – as they also “discovered” the Woodland Birds Grants in their determination to justify to objectors what is primarily a deforestation to open habitat at Gib Torr to create even MORE moorland!!

This is another example of SWT (Sheffield WT that is) making out that they walk on water – everything they do is marvellous, and that they are but the saviours of our natural heritage. Their focus on Blacka has very much been about the dogma of moorland management and the persecution of trees. That Blacka is designated as “Dwarf shrub heath – upland” pretty much relegates the woodland to obscurity in their approach. Worse still, that designation could be used as a pretext to further persecute the woodland, as a requirement of that designation is that there should be no more than 20% of scattered trees on Blacka. The word scattered is underlined in the Common Standards Monitoring.

As you know, the Forestry Commission is well aware of the value of the woodlands on Blacka, and the RSPB person that they brought in to look at the woodland said there already was a lot of woodland bird interest, indicating that there is NO NEED to interfere. I hesitate to use anything from English Nature in support of my point, but SWT needs to take notice of the objectives that were set by EN for the woodland on Blacka:
“The woodlands will be allowed to develop through natural processes wherever possible”
“Some limited supplementary planting may be required to increase the stocking of native species”
“..we would expect the area of semi-natural woodland to be maintained, with established targets for both canopy and understorey cover. A proportion of standing dead trees and lying dead wood should be retained on site and there should be signs of natural regeneration of native species. Species composition is important, and the long-term target should be at least 90% of cover in any one layer of site native or acceptable naturalized species, with 80% of ground flora cover referable to the relevant NVC community”

I just wonder what SWT really know about the woodland on Blacka. Can they ever get over themselves and allow the woodland to develop through natural processes.