'NATURE RESERVES
By A. G. TANSLEY
VAR-REACHING changes hi the utilisation of the land of Britain l' will be inevitable in the post-war period of reconstruction. When we consider the demands of housing, df agriculture, and of forestry it becomes obvious that a much more intensive employ- ment of the land surface will be necessary and that there will often be conflicting claims for the use of the same area. We have a new Ministry of Town and Country Planning ; nothing short of action by it, providing fat a careful allocation of different areas to different purposes, an allocation in which all legitimate claims are recognised and a just balance struck between them, can give per- manent satisfaction to the nation. High among these comes the pre- servation of the rural beauty of Britain, a unique heritage which we can easily and almost inadvertently destroy. The charm of the English country depends partly on diversity of scenery, but very largely on the farming methods of our ancestors, and how far the farming of the future will be compatible with its maintenance is a serious question. Certainly the war-time conversion of grassland' to arable land has not spoiled the countryside aesthetically, rather the reverse.
Rural beauty does not, however, depend only on farmland. The oak woods with hazel undergrowth, scattered rather sparsely through the Midlands and East, and more abundantly in Southern England, traditionally exploited as "coppice-with-standards," are now quite unprofitable from the point of view of economic forestry ; but they add much to the diverse beauty of the rural scene, besides contributing the greater part of the wealth of flowers that are one of the chief glories of the English spring. The stretches of heath with . their birch and pine, and of downland with its beechwoods, are other essential elements of the Southern landscape.
But it is in the North and West of England, of course, in Wales and in Scotland, that there are the greatest tracts of land which can- not be used for agriculture and are mostly wild moorland or hill grassland. The grassland practically owes its existence to the great sheep-rearing industry of former centuries—an industry that still flourishes, though it is now a far less important factor in the national economy. The moorlands, too, so far as they are not preserved as grouse-moors or deer-forests, are often more or less pastured, except in the remotest regions. Woodland, apart-from the recent Forestry Commission plantations, is scanty in the North and in much of the West, but there are still unspoiled remains of native oakwood and birchwood, of ashwood on the limestones, and in the Highlands even surviving fragments of native pinewood. Then there are the few remaining tracts of undrained fenland, such as the region of the Norfolk Broads, and—very high in importance—our coastal lands, the low-lying estuarine tracts of salt marsh, sand dunes and shingle beaches, alternating with bold cliff scenery, many stretches of which have been spoiled in recent years by unregulated building developments. All these things are part of our heritage, and claims for the preservation of what can still be preserved must be con- sidered when land utilisation is being planned.
The first object of nature-preservation is maintenance for the people at large of ,the beauty and interest of characteristic British scenery. It is widely felt that the public should be allowed freer access to important areas of scenery and increased facilities to visit them. That is the primary purpose of the proposal to form " National Parks " in the widest sense. A second object is the preservation of our natural fauna and flora, not only because our native plants and animals interest a large number of people and are often beautiful, but because their close study is a fascinating branch of biology which can play an, important part in certain aspects of a wider education and is of direct value in improving forestry and the pastoral side of agriculture. The conservation of as much as possible of our wild life as a whole—plants and animals alike—should have wider appeal. To countrymen and to town-dwellers who love the country this is an essential part of their environment, and its gradual destruction or degradation represent an irreparable loss.
Though all animals depend directly or indirectly on plants for their food and often for shelter, and plants to some extent depend on animals, nevertheless the conservation of the higher animals (birds and mammals) must be considered separately from the con- servation of vegetation, because different problems are involved. Different birds and mammals are viewed with very different eyes by different sets of people—hawks and owls, for instance—by the gamekeeper on one side and on the other by naturalists and those who are interested in keeping down the numbers of the small rodents which destroy tree seedlings and do other damage ; foxes by the hunting man and the poultry farmer ; rabbits by the pro- gressive agriculturist and the countryman who likes a little sport and is also glad to supplement his larder. On the side of the latter are also the poulterer and his customers, the hat-maker, and many people who find the wild rabbit a very attractive animal in their walks across our downs and heaths. And such instances could be multiplied almost indefinitely. The brown rat has no friends, but then he is an alien, as well as immensely destructive and of repulsive habits. It is impossible to please every one, and the striking of a just balance of benefit and detriment—the decision as to whether a particular animal should be exterminated, controlled or encouraged —is often a difficult matter. No proper decision, however, can ever be reached unless we have adequate knowledge of the habits of the animal In question, of its relations to other animals, and of the natural fluctuations of its numbers and their causes. In regard to many common animals such knowledge is still very defective, and scientific investigation has shown that popular notions on the sub- ject are often wildly wrong. The Bureau of Animal Populations at Oxford has done, and is doing, valuable work in this direction— during the war in advising on methods for the control or extermina- tion of acknowledged pests.
All such work belongs to what is now called " animal ecology," ecology being the study of the life of animals and plants in their natural homes. " Plant ecology "%is a somewhat older study, though it has developed almost entirely in the present century. The problems of the conservation of natural vegetation, as of animal populations, in a densely populated country are essentially eco- loecal problems, and the preservation of vegetation depends primarily on the establishment of nature reserves in the wide sense. National Parks, setting apart large areas of characteristic and beautiful scenery for the enjoyment of the public, in which un- licensed " development " would be prohibited, would preserve much natural vegetation. But besides these, many smaller areas, which could not be included in the Parks, require preservation if we are to retain the existing beauty and diversity of the countryside. To most of them the public could have free access, but to some, where the vegetation and animal life are easily damaged or destroyed by the mischievous or thoughtless, access would have to be regulated. Some such areas already exist, mostly belonging to the National Trust and managed by local committees ; Scolt Head and Blakeney Point on the Norfolk coast, and Wicken Fen near Cambridge, are examples.
Nearly all such reserves, National Parks and the smaller Nature Reserves alike, require expert management. Some few, it is true, need little beyond the restraint of wilful or inadvertent damage, but in most you cannot leave " Nature " entirely alone, because the very character of the area depends upon past human action. Down- land turf requires continued pasturing or it will become covered with scrub ; Fenland, with its reeds and sedges, is quickly occupied by dense bushes unless the old regime of mowing is continued, or the seedling bushes are grubbed up ; heathland may become covered with birch and pine if recurrent fires are prevented. These are only crude and obvious instances of the various changes to which vege- tation is liable. Thus' constant • attention informed by ecological knowledge is necessary for the preservation of our characteristic types of vegetation with the animal life that accompanies them.
Government authorities have shown some willingness to consider the possibility of public action in the directions here indicated, and there are various committees at work on the problems involved. What we really need is a central Government authority comparable with the American " Fish and Wild Life Service " of the U.S. Department of the Interior, but including plants as well as animals —it is quite essential that their interdependence should be recog- nised. Under such an authority all National Reserves to which the necessary legislation would apply would be scheduled. Individual Parks and Reserves would have to be managed by special com- mittees, and both the central authority and the local committees would have to be assured of adequate ecological advice.
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