DARTMOOR National Park Authority unveiled the results of a unique project last Monday (May 8). The vision for moorland Dartmoor looks forward to the year 2030, and is the result of collaboration between farmers, commoners and statutory agencies. This alliance has articulated a single, clear vision which all these organisations will use as a framework for action required on the ground to manage the Dartmoor landscape. The vision is of an open landscape containing a mosaic of different types of vegetation and habitats with archaeological features protected. Vegetation cover will be managed by the grazing of livestock and Dartmoor?s core of blanket bog managed to ensure it is robust against climate change, thereby protecting natural resources such as water quality and quantity. Over the past three years the innovative alliance that has agreed the vision has been coordinated by an independent facilitator, John Waldon, and is part of the Moor Futures Project. It brings together all the key stakeholders responsible where the priorities are, allowing the partners to more clearly plan future actions. Nick Atkinson, chief executive of Dartmoor National Park Authority, said: ?The vision sets out the aims for the management of what is the largest area of open land in southern England. ?It emphasises the belief, of all the partners involved, of the continuing importance of farming to maintain the National Park landscape and provides a unique platform from which to outline the needs of Dartmoor to Defra and the EU.?
