Answer: it depends. I do know it’ll need careful monitoring & intervention where necessary. I’ve no experience in your neck of the woods so can’t comment, but management for grouse on moors round here has created a fire-prone landscape locking us into a cycle of burning we need to break out of.
That’s why it needs careful intervention over time. Climate change ain’t gonna wait and it ain’t gonna look pretty under a RCP8.5 and SSP2 “business as usual” scenario. @gwct.org.uk and Moorland Association need to wise up and recognise change is needed.
Also, don't assume I support the GWCT. I don't. I support measures that have scientific validation underpinning them.
And what that usually means is that they are highly context specific.
What will be great in one specific area will be terrible in another.
I didn’t. They’re just the only shooty org on here at the moment so included them in the thread so they can see/comment (though doubt they will). Context is king. Wholly agree.
But it needs to be done correctly. The recent Welsh Land Use proposal (all farms must change 10% to woodland) is a good example. We know that planting trees on upland moors will often reduce sequestration. Quite a few farms in Wales are all upland.
So there is a very real chance that the proposal could have worsened sequestration, or made no difference at all.
And the societal impact of that would be reduced productivity and a change in the public support for mitigation measures.
Exactly. And it depends. On many things. Edaphic conditions will dictate most appropriate habitat. Out with deep peat, many areas would perhaps develop a dynamic mosaic of grass, heather, herb, bog, scrub and native woodland. What’s not to like?
Comments
And it can even be beneficial for carbon sequestration:
https://www.publish.csiro.au/sr/SR08095
And what that usually means is that they are highly context specific.
What will be great in one specific area will be terrible in another.
And the societal impact of that would be reduced productivity and a change in the public support for mitigation measures.