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with the extensive clearing of upland communities. This reorganization dramatically changed
the face of the British upland landscape, both socially and ecologically. From the late 1700s,
many hill farms were abandoned or forcibly cleared to make way for extensive forms of sheep
farming, and traditional transhumant systems began to erode (Holden et  al. 2007, Davies
2008). In England, the Enclosure Acts took formerly communal areas into private hands, end-
ing strip farming on open fields and grazing on commons to make way for extensive sheep
farms and deer parks. Similarly, in Scotland many shielings and upland farms were aban-
doned during 'the clearances, which occurred in the wake of changes in farming practice and
land enclosures (Dodgshon and Olsson 2006). At this time, upland societies were also blighted
by poor harvests, and bouts of disease and famine, driven by the unusually cold conditions of
the Little Ice Age. By the mid nineteenth century, enclosed sheep farms, with more intensive
shepherding, were dominant, due to high prices for wool, mutton, and lamb and the intro-
duction of new, hardier and larger breeds of sheep with finer fleeces that could spend more of
the year in the hills. These changes in grazing patterns promoted the spread of less palatable
grass species like sheep's fescue ( Festuca ovina ), bent ( Agrostis spp.), mat grass ( Nardus
stricta ), and heath rush ( Juncus squarrosus ) at the expense of heather (Dodgshon and Olsson
2006). At the same time, the hunting of red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) and red grouse ( Lagopus
lagopus scoticus ) became popular in both England and Scotland. Many country estates were
managed for sport hunting, leading to increased burning, to encourage new heather growth
favoured by game species.
Overgrazing continued in the twentieth century; stock density has largely been driven by
economic factors rather than ecological constraints. For example, the 1947 Agriculture Act
aimed to boost food production through guaranteed prices for livestock, which buffered
farmers by de-linking income from the market price for wool and meat. There were govern-
ment subsidies for drainage of moorlands (Holden et  al. 2007). Such initiatives led to over-
stocking, degradation of moorlands, and loss of important blanket bog habitats. Since
industrialization, changes in nitrogen and sulphur deposition have altered soil properties,
affecting ecological processes like peat-building and heather maturation. In addition, from
the 1920s, many uplands were subject to afforestation projects, which established dense
stands of commercially important species like sitka spruce, but provided little biodiversity
and contributed to soil acidification (Holden et al. 2007, Reed et al. 2009). Britain joined the
European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1973, with the aim of improving food secur-
ity and ensuring a good standard of living for farmers. However, guaranteed prices and sub-
sidies for sheep farming led to further over-stocking and there was a 30% increase in sheep
numbers on UK moorlands between the 1970s and the 1990s. These policies led to agricul-
tural surpluses and further erosion and degradation of heather moorlands and blanket peats.
By 1987, sheep density was too high for heather regeneration in over 70% of moorlands
(Holden et al. 2007). Recent changes in the CAP have removed subsidies for sheep farming,
which as a result is now uneconomic. For example, sheep farms in Wales run at an average
£20,000 per year loss (Monbiot 2013). The future of the uplands is therefore open, and involves
a negotiation between what is environmentally and culturally desirable, ecologically feasible,
and economically realistic.
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