ELMs and wildlife management
Ian Danby
Following an update from Defra on the Environmental land management schemes this week, Ian Danby looks at the greater opportunities presented to shooting by the changes.
The Environmental land management schemes (ELMs) are Defra’s answer to the Common Agricultural Policy’s agri-environmental schemes in a post-Brexit England. The schemes focus on enhancing the natural environment alongside food production, paying farmers and land managers to do so. They are set to be rolled out in full in 2024.
Within the ELMs, there is the universal tier of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which sets a simple standard to follow for a range of farmed habitats. The second element is the Countryside Stewardship (CS), a named retained from the legacy of agri-environmental schemes, which pays for locally-targeted environmental benefits. Options within these two tier will be combined in applications which should enable more applicants to commit to bigger measures for the environment.
The final element is Landscape Recovery, the top level, aimed at a few, longer-term, large-scale agreements.
I have written previously about how the schemes are an open door for land management practices undertaken as a result of shooting and conservation activities.
Further to this, a recent Defra policy paper updated on how the government will pay for these new schemes outlined, and how wildlife management can and will fit into the process.
Woodland protection
The government’s latest announcement confirmed that the woodland grants currently offered in return for controlling deer and grey squirrels will continue under the Countryside Stewardship scheme.
The scheme can provide the landowner with an annual income of £90 per hectare and £50 per hectare for undertaking deer and squirrel management plans respectively. This is a major positive and welcomed by government agencies and conservation NGOs.
The England Deer Management Plan has made it clear that Defra is looking at further ways to incentivise deer management; this could lead to more options becoming available down the line.
Non-native species
Defra states there are further plans to produce action to cover the management of invasive, non-native species. Although there are no further details as of yet, could this mean the control of species such as the American mink will be incorporated? The UK’s fastest declining mammal, the water vole, needs that help.
This support is looking more likely, given the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan, which was released on 31 January. The England-wide plan for the environment includes the announcement of a species survival fund and species conservation strategies to boost vulnerable wildlife populations. They list water vole as a priority. As ELMs is part of the delivery mechanism of the Environmental Improvement Plan then it would be logical that they support each other.
There are more connections between them can see that in the next section under ELMs we look at next.
Species recovery
Further positive news has been announced for those undertaking predator control under the species recovery section of ELMs, with Defra confirming that:
“Some species have requirements that will need more specific and tailored management, including managing predatory species when those species are impacting threatened species’ recovery, and we are considering how these bespoke actions will be made available.”
With a focus on overturning the decline of species, particularly our farmland birds, there is a great opportunity for public money to fund essential predator control and management.
There are countless examples and evidence to show that the management of predators makes a significant difference to the breeding success of vulnerable species in otherwise suitable habitat.
This view was recently backed up by Defra Minister Trudy Harrison MP in her answer to a parliamentary question, where she was asked about curlew conservation. In her response she said:
“The management of predators, such as foxes and carrion crows, plays an important role in supporting the recovery of some of our most vulnerable species, particularly ground-nesting birds including the curlew.
We have recently published an update on environmental land management schemes which confirms that we are exploring how actions to do with managing predatory species – when those species are impacting threatened species recovery – will be made available.”
BASC has long argued that the impact of the work of gamekeepers and the wider shooting community on wildlife management is a public good.
We’ve specifically made that case throughout the development of ELMs in our dealings with civil servants. To see this aspect not just acknowledged but subsidised is incredibly exciting and potentially monumental for nature recovery on farmed land.
If you are involved in a shoot outside of England, it’s useful to know that the Welsh government is currently overhauling its agri-environment schemes and BASC are engaged with this development. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no current plans to overhaul their schemes outside of normal yearly development.
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