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(Harmer and Britain 1999, Tipping et al. 1999, Millar et al. 2007). A rich understory vegetation
requires a mosaic of open canopy, wood-pastures, coppicing and pollarding, and woodland
rides, which all help to generate structural heterogeneity and biodiversity. Building resilience
to future climate change is also critical; in contrast to beech, which is sensitive to drought and
storms, birch has increased in many UK Atlantic forests since 1900, has survived many past cli-
matic and cultural changes, and has excellent regeneration potential (Brown 2010, Davies 2011).
The overall aim for uplands today is not to reconstruct an arbitrary point in the past, but to
provide flexible, resilient, and richly diverse upland landscapes with woodland and moor-
land elements, which sustain a wide variety of livelihoods, ecosystem services and heritage
values (Peterken 1996, Tipping et al. 1999, Brown 2010). It seems clear that that the expansion
of woodland elements will be an important part of upland management and the pollen
records suggest that anthropogenically managed, neo-native woodlands will be more diverse
and heterogeneous than the unmanaged forests of the early Holocene. Blocking gullies and
drains can restore peatland and wetland habitats, reducing erosion and contributing to water
and carbon storage (Reed et al. 2009). In valleys, the restoration of fluvial meanders and
riparian corridors can increase biodiversity and connectivity. Abandoned farms in the most
remote, upland areas could also provide opportunities for re-wilding with large mammals
(see Chapter 3) (Holl and Smith 2007, Navarro and Pereira 2012, Monbiot 2013). Furthermore,
regeneration of upland woodlands may help to ameliorate problems of extreme flooding in
the lowlands, by restoring water-holding capacity and evening out river flow. A landscape
approach to water and biodiversity management could incorporate woodland restoration in
the uplands alongside restoration of floodplains in the lowlands (Monbiot 2014).
The depopulation of the uplands is an on-going concern for the future of the UK's cultural
landscapes, which will only survive if traditional management continues or is reinstated
(Reed et al. 2009). Since 2003, a time when 86% of moorland Sites of Special Scientific Interest
were in poor condition due to overgrazing and inappropriate burning, new CAP subsidies are
decoupled from stock production and instead reward compliance with good farming prac-
tices and a range of environmental standards. This has led to a decline in stock numbers and
a move away from hill farming to more productive areas in valley bottoms, though upland
farmers can supplement their incomes through payments under the European Commission
Directive for Less Favoured Areas (LFA). The Environmentally Sensitive Areas scheme (ESA)
also supplements upland farmers' incomes and safeguards landscapes through good farm-
ing practices, such as reinstating traditional husbandry that reduces upland stocking levels
over the winter (Reed et al. 2009). A new 'Environmental Stewardship Scheme' subsidizes
farmers for developing and maintaining agro-environmental plans that conserve biodiversity
and provide ecosystem services such as ground water recharge, flood prevention, carbon
storage and recreation, and the European Commission's Rural Development Policy includes
diversification objectives alongside environmental objectives and the aim to improve quality
of life. Meeting the EU water Framework Directive and the Kyoto Protocol may encourage
such woodland restoration schemes and new initiatives like the Landscape Convention may
help in conserving heritage value. Attempts are being made to incorporate communities and
stakeholders into decision making, though previous u-turns on past policies of livestock
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