Hi,
I had a message from a friend of mine who is a member of ASUB in Belgium regarding pressure coming from the Brussels Environment Agency:
"We have some serious pressure coming from the Brussels Environment Agency. They more or less want to restrict access to the biggest forest in Brussels, by letting us run only on existing tracks. Their arguments are that there is only a very thin layer of fertile soil, and that we are endangering the whole forest with our events."
He is asking do we (british orienteers) have knowledge of any good scientific studies concerning the effect of orienteering on the flora?
I recall many moons ago that Brian Parker was the BO environmental officer and a study of the New Forest was done?
My club (SBOC) run on many SSSI areas and also CADW (body covering welsh historical sites) area (e.g. an iron age fort) but these accesses are all done locally and no "studies" have been carried out by the club. Anecdotaly the NRW (natural resources wales) like us running on sand dune areas as we disturb the sand and ensure the dunes do not get too stable.
So can you help out friends in Belgium? I will give BO a call tomorrow to see if they have any case studies they are happy to share.
Brussels Environment Agency
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Re: Brussels Environment Agency
The IOF have some good stuff on their website, including several papers by Brian Parker. Chapter 2 of IOF-ENV-002 reviews studies of the impact of orienteering on vegetation, so is probably the most useful starting point.
British Orienteering Director | Opinions expressed on here are entirely my own, and do not represent the views of British Orienteering.
"If only you were younger and better..."
"If only you were younger and better..."
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Scott - god
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Re: Brussels Environment Agency
I can't point to particular studies but a friend of mine who works for Cumbria Woodlands told me the best thing you could do for biodiversity in a forest was to 'drive a tractor through it', or more accurately to disturb the ground in the same way heavy animals we no longer have would have done. So perhaps they should be looking for studies which show the benefits of ground disturbance.
- gaw
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Re: Brussels Environment Agency
very much agree "gaw" and in south wales the agencies who were against us running on areas like Broughton Burrows (sand dune) like us to run there now to move the sand around and now even put cattle there to stop the dunes becoming established and over grown. They have done the same in Whiteford Burrows, but this has been a pain for us as now there are fences everywhere to keep the cattle in - limiting good planning legs.
Thanks Scott - for the links.
Thanks Scott - for the links.
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Re: Brussels Environment Agency
Some years ago I was talking to a farmer / landowner in the Wyre forest.
Rare orchids had been found in part of one of his fields in which he normally had cows.
The EA got wind of this and insisted the area be fenced off to exclude the cows and protect the orchids.
Result - the fenced-off area became overgrown, and with no cows to eat the vegetation or trample the ground the orchids died out.
Poppies did so well in the fields of Flanders, by roadworks and elsewhere because of churning of the ground.
Rare orchids had been found in part of one of his fields in which he normally had cows.
The EA got wind of this and insisted the area be fenced off to exclude the cows and protect the orchids.
Result - the fenced-off area became overgrown, and with no cows to eat the vegetation or trample the ground the orchids died out.
Poppies did so well in the fields of Flanders, by roadworks and elsewhere because of churning of the ground.
curro ergo sum
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King Penguin - addict
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Re: Brussels Environment Agency
I wrote a Good Practice Guide to Orienteering and the Environment in Scotland available to download on the Scottish Orienteering website. It makes reference to the various environmental impact studies and in fact a copy of the Barry Buddon report has already been requested and sent to Belgium.
Fac et Spera. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Scottish 6 Days Assistant Coordinator
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Freefall - addict
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