About Nature Policy, Large Ecosystems
in a Small and Crowded Country
and the Role Large Herbivores can Play:
Challenges For Future!

von H. Kampf, Wageningen / Niederlande

5. Enhance semi-natural nature which can exist only in specific areas and increase the quality of nature in the other areas

Let’s go back to the second and third tracks:

• to enhance semi-natural nature, which can exist only in specific areas (e.g. botanical grasslands, heathlands, smaller forests and scrubs)
• to increase the quality of nature in other areas such as agricultural land, military training areas, recreation areas, along roads and ditches etc. Both approaches - I discuss them together here - aim to realise nature to safeguard target species in their ecological community.

Semi-natural nature is found in specific areas such as (former) agricultural land, military training areas, recreation areas,

and along roads and ditches. Both the second and third approaches aim to create nature areas which safeguard target species in their ecological community. These communities include grasslands and heathlands, smaller forests and scrub areas.

The policy targets for vulnerable zones (semi-natural nature, track 2) and multi-functional nature (track 3) are as follows:

Grazing is a management tool, like mowing and hay-making. It can be used both with animals owned by nature management organisations and, wherever possible, by farmers. On heathlands, for example, good results can be seen. Air pollution in the Netherlands is creating a tendency for heathlands to be overgrown with grasses. Cattle and horses prefer grasses to rough heather shrubs. The grassy spots are overgrazed, so the soil is impoverished on those spots. This enables heather and accompanying species to recover (a cyclical process).

Photo 1

What about the role of sheep and goats? To be honest, I do not always support these species in nature management. They have completely different grazing behaviour from cattle and horses. Goats are useful when nature areas are being overgrown by shrubs. But they are very vulnerable to disease, especially in wet conditions. And in our Western regions, they are not indigenous.

Photo 2

Sheep are especially fond of sweet tasting plants. They eat much less than horses and cattle, who are less choosy too. Sheep may cause local extinction of plant species vulnerable to overgrazing. Areas with vulnerable vegetation can only be grazed by large herds of sheep and goats if they are managed by a shepherd. Even then, grazing must be based on a good management approach.

As said before, iIt is worth collecting more data on the effects of different forms of grazing (different animals, different densities, different vegetations and different parts of Europe). Grazing will have a different effect from mowing, but mowing has always been seen as a substitute for grazing. It has always been thought that all plants dependent on mowing must be able to survive grazing, provided that this grazing is similar to natural grazing.

Organisations like EurositeEurosite, the Large Herbivore Initiative of WWF International and the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP) act as a platform for European nature managers and are good organisations to bring your experience to.

Currently, Eurosite is setting up an information exchange network between organisations working in the field of grazing management and policy development. The network, named Eurograzer http://www.eurosite-nature.org/orientation.html, will involve international bodies including those mentioned earlier and selected national and regional organisations working on this subject. Eurograzer is intended to be a forum for organisations working at any level to learn from and share information with others working on grassland management. The aim of this 'network of networks' is:

Activities will be in the area of practical grazing input and policy development. The network is being developed and will be launched in November at the Eurosite Annual General Meeting (November 2000).