| Friends of the New Forest Chair, John Ward, responds to claims made on a segment of BBC’s Inside Out South aired on Monday, 28th January, 2019. |
Chris Packham has it wrong about the New Forest
One of the world’s oldest conservation organisations is taking issue with comments about overgrazing, by commoners’ animals in the New Forest, made by TV presenter Chris Packham in a recent edition of BBC1’s ‘Inside Out’ programme. The Friends of the New Forest point to collaborative projects and joint working between statutory and voluntary organisations, which they say have improved the bio-diversity and landscape management of one of Britain’s smallest National Parks.
John Ward, Chairman of The Friends of the New Forest, said, “In a short programme it would be too much to expect explanation and discussion, but Chris Packham’s assertions that the Forest has been drained, burnt, overgrazed and has suffered a catastrophic decline in species certainly had the tabloid headline effect he no doubt wanted.”
The Friends of the New Forest say that important information about the condition of the Forest was missing from the programme, including the stream and valley mire restoration projects that have been reversing damage caused by man-made drainage; the fact that a decade or so ago there was a great worry that commoning was declining so fast there would not be enough livestock to graze the Forest; and, a recognition that species decline is often rooted in causes much wider than the New Forest.
John Ward continued, “Drawing conclusions from a snapshot view of the New Forest is often risky for a place that evolves and fluctuates over long periods of time. Grazing within the cultural landscape of the Forest has always varied. For example, the numerous dairy herds of the 1960s are no longer present and agri-environment grants do come and go. The New Forest is still an astonishingly rich place for wildlife and for people, those riches depend on the continuity of commoning and commoning needs our support. One of the many challenges that the Forest faces for those of us seeking its long-term protection is to find the right way to make that support effective.”
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