£4m funding to boost Cumbria’s landscapes
More than 84,000 acres of woodland and wetlands in Cumbria are set to be revitalised in a £4m improvement project, with the goal of restoring natural processes on core sites and the rehabilitation of local wildlife habitats.
The £4m project area, funded by Endangered Landscapes Programme, encompasses the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, its rural landscapes hosting a diverse agricultural, ecological and cultural economy.
A majority of the project’s landscape has been damaged, reducing peat bogs, inhibiting tree regeneration, and reducing the number of wild floras.
Landowners, farmers and conservationists are collaborating to improve the landscape, including fells, ancient woodlands, peatlands, lakes and rivers.
The Cumbria Connect project aims to selectively reintroduce rare or lost species, bolstering local habitat conditions in alignment with the goal of increasing the red squirrel, ring ouzels and pied flycatchers’ population.
David Morris, RSPB area manager for Cumbria says: “Post-war agricultural policies intensified land management and impacted vulnerable habitats, the wildlife that lives in them and how the landscape functions ecologically for those who live, work and visit here too.
“This programme will harness the collective knowledge and resources of the partnership to forge a path to redress some of that.”
England’s landscapes are undergoing a reform in agricultural policy in line with the Government’s Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), designated to improve the country’s agricultural sector and improve biodiversity. ELMS are set to replace EU farming policies, creating advantageous opportunities for nature recovery and land-based businesses.
The restorative project is set to create 10 new jobs in the field of conservation advice for land managers and scientist research, with the opportunities to PhD students to complete apprenticeships on site.