Eco & Environment, Nature & Wildlife | Posted on December 11th, 2024 | return to news
Avon Heath Country Park restoration
Work started this month to restore heathland at the country park just outside Ringwood in a £1.2 million project.
Heathland at Avon Heath Country Park is to be restored with Dorset Council embarking on a £1.2 million project.
Once seen as waste land, lowland heathland is now recognised as an important and unique ecosystem that supports rare and threatened wildlife. However, over the past 200 years, much of this precious habitat has been lost globally.
Around 2.5 per cent of the world’s remaining heathland is in Dorset, with a significant portion at Avon Heath Country Park near Ringwood. The park’s unique heathland is home to all of Britain’s native reptile species, including the elusive Smooth Snake, and provides critical nesting grounds for birds like the Nightjar and Woodlark.
This month Dorset Council, with support and funding from Natural England, began a two-year restoration project to remove some of the invasive pine trees from the 210-hectare site. These coniferous trees, originally planted for timber, have spread through self-seeding and now threaten to destroy the heathland by blocking out sunlight that is essential for heather growth.
The Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Avon Heath Country Park is internationally recognised for its rare lowland heath. And, as site owner, Dorset Council has a legal responsibility to maintain and enhance it. In addition to felling trees, restoration efforts will also include the removal of scrub and other invasive species, such as Rhododendron, to help reverse the loss of this important habitat.
Cllr Nick Ireland, leader of Dorset Council and Cabinet Member for Climate, said: “This project at Avon Heath Country Park is crucial for recovering nature in our county and will help safeguard some of our most endangered wildlife. As custodians of a significant portion of the world’s remaining lowland heathland, we have a duty to do everything we can to protect this unique habitat for the future.
“And while removing trees during a climate emergency may seem counter-intuitive, heathlands play an important role in tackling climate change too. Their soils are excellent at absorbing carbon from our atmosphere and locking it away permanently.”
The timber removed from Avon Heath will support local projects, being repurposed for various uses such as construction materials, fence posts, and wood chips for carbon-neutral energy production. This will help reduce the need to import wood into our county, in addition to protecting some of Dorset’s rarest native wildlife.
Funding for this project comes from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
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