Bear set free in secret to go wild in the country

Times, 26 April 2006

A bear was being released in secrecy in the French Pyrenees last night, after protesters disrupted the first phase of a conservation operation backed by President Chirac but opposed by local farmers.

Nature campaigners, television crews and Nelly Olin, the Environment Minister, were on hand at the village of Arbas to greet “Palouma”, the bear that was captured in a Slovenian forest on Monday and driven to France in a van. However, demonstrators from local farmers’ organisations emerged from the woods making noise with bells and horns, forcing officials to take the animal away to a secret place for a night-time release.

The demonstrators broke through a police cordon as a Gendarmerie helicopter hovered over the scene in an attempt to ensure the bear’s safe arrival into the Massif Paloumère, a 4,500ft (1,370m) mountain above Arbas.

Palouma, aged about 4, is equipped with a satellite tracker that will relay her whereabouts for about two years. Five Slovenian brown bears — European Ursus arctos — are being introduced to the French side of the mountains as part of a Franco-Spanish operation to save a population that has dwindled to about 20. Fifteen bears are to be released in coming years on both sides of the Pyrenees. Campaigners greeted the arrival of the first with joy.

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2151791.html

Get active in our urban woodlands

DEFRA Press Release Ref: 172/06, 24 April 2006

Too many people are missing out on the benefits of getting active in England's woodlands, thinking they are only found in rural areas, Forestry Minister Jim Knight said today.

 “It's important for everyone to know that you don't need to travel miles into the heart of England's countryside to enjoy our woodlands and green spaces. Some of our most cherished woodlands are on the doorsteps of cities and large towns,” he said.

Mr Knight said the Forestry Commission's Active Woods campaign, a national drive to promote the range of health and fitness opportunities offered by Britain's woodlands, included

Research indicates that exercising in woods and green spaces reduces stress levels, boosts mental well-being, and can speed recovery from illness.

Active Woods is a national drive being led by the Forestry Commission, to promote the vast range of health and fitness opportunities offered by Britain's woodlands. Hundreds of events are being organised across the UK, such as welly activity days, den-building competitions and meditation in the woods, reflecting the campaign's three themes of naturally active, naturally stimulating and naturally relaxing. Many of these activities are free to access and use.

www.forestry.gov.uk/active

Climate change forces plants to search for better places to live

The Guardian 24 April 2006

Volunteers working for the Botanical Society of the British Isles and the charity Plantlife recorded more than 200,000 plants in patches four kilometres square around the country and found the number and distribution of one third of all species had changed substantially since an earlier survey in 1987.

Many plants have spread north and west to capitalise on the milder conditions warming has brought, with several species of orchid and fern, such as the bee orchid and hart's tongue fern, recorded twice as frequently as in the previous survey.

Other species, such as the lesser butterfly orchid and mountain pansy, which flourish in cooler climates, suffered declines. "It's easy to pick out the species that have fared well because they have moved into new areas, but the losers are harder to spot," said Katherine Stewart of Plantlife. "We know plants that flourish in moist, cooler conditions, such as moorland and mountain species, are likely to suffer. They may retreat further north or up mountainsides, but some may hang on for a while and then go suddenly."

According to the survey, the mean central England temperature for 1987 was 9.05C, compared with a mean of 10.51C in 2004. The report claims that the rising temperatures have caused most disruption to plants with heavy seeds because they are unable to disperse over long distances, and so re-establish themselves far from their traditional habitats. "The ferns have tiny spores and they are carried a long way, the orchids have tiny seeds and there are the plume seeds of the daisy family and their seeds can be carried long distances," said Michael Braithwaite of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. "But a lot of the more traditional wildflowers don't get around easily; they have heavier seeds and discard much less freely, and in the long term that is a worry."

Goldenrod, a member of the dandelion family, has declined 15% in the survey, with moorland species such as lousewort also suffering notable losses.

Mr Braithwaite said the level of climate change Britain had experienced had been generally positive for plantlife, with most species extending their habitats. "The concern is that if you multiply the temperatures up, there might well be more of a problem in the future," he said.

www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1759924,00.html

Scotland's spectacular birds

Courier, 22 April 2006

Iconic species like ospreys, sea eagles and red kites attract tens of thousands of visitors to sites as far apart as Galloway, Mull, Perthshire and Orkney, a study by the RSPB has shown.

he top bird tourism species north of the border is the osprey, which attracts 125,000 visitors who spend an estimated £2.2 million every year, across five viewing sites.

The staggering sum is a vital contribution to the local economy surrounding each of the sites, at Loch Garten in the Highlands, Loch of the Lowes in Perthshire, Aberfoyle in the central belt, Tweed Valley in the Borders and Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway.

Mull's sea eagles have also become a firmly established tourist magnet, pulling in thousands of enthusiasts to boost the island's economy by as much as £1.7 million annually.

RSPB officer on Mull Dave Sexton said, "This is the 21st anniversary of sea eagles breeding successfully in Scotland since the reintroduction project started and it all began here on Mull.The findings of the survey just go to show what a huge draw the sea eagles now are to the island and the kind of benefits they can bring both here and to other areas here they may be reintroduced in the future”

www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2006/04/22/newsstory8254354t0.asp

CNPA objects to mega pylons in national park

21 April 2006

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) is objecting to proposals by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to erect a new electricity powerline through a section of the Cairngorms National Park.

The reasons for objecting to the planning application by SSE include:

• The proposal conflicts with all four aims of the National Park, which are to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage; encourage sustainable use of the natural resources; support sustainable economic and social development of the Park's communities; promote awareness and understanding of the special qualities of the area.

• The proposal compromises the Cairngorms National Park's designation as National Park and does not comply with National Planning Policy Guidance on Natural Heritage and the National Planning Framework.

• The proposal fails to demonstrate that there is no other possible alternative route for the powerline and consequently, the proposal does not comply with the electricity industry's own guidelines for the routing of new high voltage overhead transmission lines.

www.cairngorms.co.uk

Scotland’s electrical storm

Sunday Times, 16 April 2006

The Scottish countryside is gripped by a power struggle over new pylons. Up to 213ft high, the proposed line of pylons would stretch 137 miles from Beauly, west of Inverness, down through some of Scotland’s wildest and most beautiful countryside to Denny in the heart of the Central Belt.

Caroline Bain, 48, has lived all her life in the conservation village of Tomich, Inverness-shire. The majesty of Glen Affric and the sparkling waters of Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin are part of her and her family’s local landscape.

That view, she believes, will be ruinously scarred if Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) is allowed to put an upgraded power line through the area carried on high-voltage cables strung on “monster pylons”.

Last week, Bain and other protesters from the Pylon Pressure campaign group were jubilant at a landmark victory. Councillors from the Highland council and Perth & Kinross council rejected SSE’s power line upgrade because of its environmental impact on the Scottish landscape.

The pylons pose a problem for Scotland’s green movement. It was struggling to keep a united front on one of the foremost environmental issues of the moment. Greens are in favour of good things such as unspoilt scenery and against bad things such as pollution.

But what happens when two of its beliefs are incompatible? What if the fight against greenhouse gases requires the building of a massively upgraded power line to carry electricity from Scotland’s new generation of wind and wave farms? Scotland’s greens are struggling to face up to the dilemma. On the one hand are those environmental organisations such as the John Muir Trust and RSPB, which are primarily interested in conservation. On the other are those such as Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES), which aims to promote renewable energy as an alternative to nuclear power.

After last week’s rejection by the local authorities, SSE admitted it had no “plan B” – the upgrade was essential for Scotland’s future energy needs. Managers said they were seeking urgent meetings with local authorities and senior councillors to see if their fears could be allayed.

Highland council has said it still believes negotiations can reach an agreement, but few observers now believe anything will happen in the fortnight before the end of the statutory consultation period. The most likely outcome now is a drawn out and costly public inquiry which, if it backs the power line, could delay the upgrade until 2010 – three years behind schedule. That, said the energy industry, is three years Scotland can ill afford to lose.

“Scotland has the wind, the waves and the tides to be among the world leaders in generating clean electricity,” said Jack McConnell, the first minister, at the opening in February of Scotland’s biggest hydroelectricity project for 50 years. Last month his administration set Scotland the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2.7m tons of carbon a year by 2010, making Scotland the greenest part of the UK.

A delay in upgrading the electricity grid would be a brake on these ambitions, claimed the energy industry.

Claim and counterclaim litter the debate. Campaigners ask why the cables cannot go underground. The industry says it would cost three to 10 times as much. This is refuted by the campaigners’ experts.

Efforts have recently been made by Scotland’s environmental organisations to paste over their differences. FoES initially took a supportive view of the new link, believing improved capacity for wave and wind power was essential if the arguments against new nuclear power stations were to be robust.

But the green lobby recognised the grave dangers in not being seen to speak with one voice, and dividing into opposing factions on such a contentious issue. So under the umbrella group Scottish Environment Link, FoES has signed up with seven environmental groups to a carefully hedged common position opposing the upgrade plan, calling it “premature”. This fudge aligned them with groups such as the RSPB, which was bitterly opposed to wind farms per se, believing they would lead to a “bird genocide” in the Highlands. It is an unlikely alliance.

As the debate rages, the Scottish government was staying quiet, despite the threat any delay posed to its renewables ambitions. Ministers said they may yet have to adjudicate impartially on the outcome of a public inquiry. A Scottish executive spokesman explained last night: “Ministers await the conclusion of the statutory consultation on April 30. We will then carefully consider all the responses received.

“If a public local inquiry is necessary, we will seek to put such an inquiry in place with the minimum possible delay. “It would therefore be totally inappropriate to pre-empt such consideration by making a decision now on changes to the proposed route or on other options such as undergrounding.”

Birth of two Iberian lynxes boosts imperiled wild cat

Independent, 14 April 2006 and WWF press release 13 April 2006

Two female Iberian lynx cubs have been born in captivity in southern Spain, and a pregnant female is expected to produce two or three cubs in coming hours, consolidating a captive breeding project to save the world's most endangered wild cat from extinction.

A spokesman for Andalusia's Ecologists in Action campaign group, Juan Romero, hailed the captive-breeding programme as "a success that gives us hope for the lynx's survival". Mr Romero added: "Now we must prepare natural habitats for the lynx to have its own extensive, permanent territory."

Spain was gripped last year when "Sali", as she was promptly nicknamed by an adoring nation, gave birth to Brisa, Brezo and Brezina. Every mew and snuffle, every twitch of their tufted ears, was captured on camera and projected on to a giant screen by their enclosure.

The drama intensified when, six weeks later, Brezo turned upon his weaker sibling Brezina in a fratricidal frenzy, and ripped his throat out. Scientists said it was usual for only two of a three-strong litter to survive: They found that when the mother's milk declines, the cubs fight for the breast.

The two survivors are thriving, each in their 200sq m enclosure. They feed on live rabbits that scientists introduce into the enclosure for them to chase. But Brezo and Brisa may never be released into the wild, because they have become too habituated to human contact.

The plan is to release up to 60 specially bred lynxes into the wild in 2010. They would have to be prepared to be introduced into the wild almost from birth.

Some 150 Iberian lynxes remain in the wild, in Spain and Portugal. Numbers have fallen dramatically in recent years because disease has killed off the rabbits that are their natural prey.

In the last half of the 20th century Spain's rabbit population collapsed as the country was ravaged by myxomatosis followed by another serious disease - rabbit haemorrhagic disease. More than 90 per cent of the country's rabbits were lost to these diseases, and as a result their predators have also suffered massive population declines.

In one of the last two bastions of Iberian lynx habitat, an area known as Sierra Morena, WWF is working to reintroduce rabbits and rebuild the natural ecosystem. Becci May, Mediterranean Programme Officer for WWF-UK, said "It's an expensive business as all of the rabbits we relocate have to be caught from nearby areas where they have survived, to ensure they are the right genetic strain, and then vaccinated and quarantined until we know they aren't carrying any dangerous illnesses."

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article357650.ece

Shaping the Future of the Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorms National Park Authority, 11 April 2006

The Draft National Park Plan for the Cairngorms National Park is out for consultation. The Draft Plan sets out the long term vision - 25 years - for the Park as a whole as well as the key priorities for the first five years of the Plan, from 2007 to 2012.

Speaking at the launch event, Andrew Thin, CNPA Convener said: "The fact that all the organisations and groups who have helped in the creation of this Draft National Park Plan are here today to present the document in this joint way, highlights the spirit of partnership that is vital for achieving the aims of the Park. "Whatever viewpoint people have and wherever they live, this is their chance to help shape the future of the UK's largest national park and impact on the quality of the landscape, quality of life and the quality of peoples' enjoyment and understanding."

Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development, Rhona Brankin MSP urged the public to have their say on the future of their National Park: "The Cairngorms National Park is a wonderful part of Scotland's natural heritage, key to the local economy and benefits people's health. It is essential that we manage it effectively and sustainably so that future generations can continue to benefit from it. "

The seven priorities for action in the first five years of the Plan are:

• Conserving and enhancing the Park's biodiversity and landscapes

• Developing sustainable deer management

• Supporting integrated land management

• Improving high quality opportunities for outdoor access

• Making housing affordable and sustainable

• Making tourism and business sustainable

• Developing awareness and understanding of the Park

Following the consultation, a report summarising the responses will be prepared and the final Park Plan will be developed, with partners for submission, to Ministers at the end of 2006. This is the first National Park Plan for the Cairngorms and although the Plan looks ahead to 2030, a new series of priorities will be published every five years.

More information on the Draft National Park Plan can be found on the National Park Plan homepage www.cairngorms.co.uk/parkauthority/nationalparkplan.htm

To get involved in the National Park Plan consultation please contact the CNPA at: National Park Plan Consultation, 14 The Square, Grantown-on-Spey, Moray, PH26 3HG. Tel: 01479 873535 fax: 01479 873527 email: nationalparkplan@cairngorms.co.uk

Public consultation ends 30 June 2006

New guidance will protect and promote Local Sites