PM 2 - Restore and enhance degraded open habitats
- Code
- PM 2
- Measure
- Restore and enhance degraded open habitats
- Description
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This will be achieved mostly through better management and the enhancement of poorer quality open habitats such as modified grassland. Different types of open habitat should be supported and encouraged as appropriate, including: acid, neutral, and calcareous grassland; floodplain meadows; and other grazing pastures. The variety of grassland types in Herefordshire each require different management techniques, and landowners should be advised appropriately. Understanding their specific needs will enable work to restore and showcase these valuable habitats into the future. A variety of methods will be implemented to minimise impacts of pollution, such as buffering with or creating diverse nitrogen-tolerant habitats to safeguard more sensitive grasslands. However, reducing pollutants at the source should be the first step.
- Wider environmental benefits
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Reducing climate change impact Supporting health and cultural services Improving soil health Controlling invasive species
- Links to additional information and guidance
- Priority
- Herefordshire’s open habitats are enhanced, expanded and reconnected
- Priority description
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Open habitats form a key part of Herefordshire’s largely rural landscape (not to be confused with ‘Open Mosaic Habitats on Previously Developed Land’) and are a valuable set of habitats with a unique biodiversity supporting a variety of important species such as the curlew and great burnet. The term open habitats encompasses a variety of meadows and pastures of varying types depending on the underlying soil and geological conditions. Acid grasslands occur in places such as the Malvern Hills and neutral grassland can be found across the county, with a particularly good example at Lugg Meadows Nature Reserve near Hereford. The rarest grassland in Herefordshire is calcareous grassland, which can be found in the Wye Valley on limestone rocks. Open habitats continue to be depleted and suffer from a myriad of pressures such as urbanisation, pollution, over and under-grazing and agricultural intensification. A significant additional risk is their anonymity: species rich grasslands are frequently in suboptimal management, often appearing unexceptional to all but the specialist. This makes them vulnerable to unintended damage. They are also at risk from climate change and invasive plant species. Increasing the extent of open habitats and their interconnectivity improves their resilience to pressures, such as climate change, and helps to provide additional high-quality habitat for a variety of species.