Grazing can help and hinder plan for forests

THE PRESENCE of grazing animals can be both a help and a hindrance to meeting the UK’s tree planting targets, new research has found.

A study by ecologists at the University of Plymouth found that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing livestock if Britain is to successfully re-plant its lost rainforests.

The UK’s upland coniferous and broadleaf woodlands, such as oak, are deemed “temperate rainforests” due to the volume of precipitation they receive each year.

The Government’s environmental policy is relying on trees to deliver a raft of natural solutions to the climate crisis, including carbon storage, a boost for biodiversity and flood mitigation.

Dr Thomas Murphy, who led the study, said: “Our findings suggest the expansion of oak woodland into UK upland pasture systems is not a simple process.

“They may have a critical role to play, but these important temperate rainforests have been historically degraded and are now highly fragmented. Reversing that trend is likely to require strategic planting and informed livestock management.”

In England, the Government plans to increase tree planting to 74,000 acres per year by the end of the Parliament, spending £500m from 2020 to 2025.

Research in oak forests on Dartmoor found few saplings survived on grazed uplands, and those that did were stunted and unlikely to live beyond eight years without extra protection.

In landscapes thick with bracken, the plants can protect sprouting oaks as they are toxic to livestock, but also undermine survival due to the saplings being forced to compete for light.

Cattle or ponies browsing in these areas can trample down the ferns, helping to support the conditions for temperate rainforests to self-seed, the research found.