Forever Meadows
Wildflower meadows are one of our most scarce and attractive wildlife habitats.
To safeguard the future of wildflower meadows in Lancashire we are working with local land occupiers to identify and implement key management priorities, and secure long term management agreements.
Introduction
Wildflower meadows have suffered huge losses (97%) in the last century as a consequence of changing agricultural practice. The fragmentation and isolation of remaining wildflower habitat in Lancashire creates practical and financial difficulties for land occupiers who wish to apply sensitive management to these important sites.
Local Wildlife Sites
The Forever Meadows Project will focus on the existing grassland LWS network. LWS are selected for their county importance as wildlife habitats. Upon designation the biodiversity of many grassland LWS continues to be threatened by a lack in the availability of resources, skill and/or motivation for positive conservation management.
Objectives
- Survey 52 lowland meadow sites
- Identify key management priorities and coordinate a capital works programme to implement them
- Secure long term management agreements for 30 sites.
- Contribute to the achievement of Local Biological Action Plan targets for species rich grassland and related national BAP's (including skylark, lapwing, brown hare and twite)
- Contribute to National Indicator (NI) 197 targets.
Benefits
- Maintain and enhance our rapidly declining species rich grassland resource for future generations
- Long-term improvement in connectivity of meadows
- Secure genetic diversity held in current sites providing a seed base for wildflower meadow restoration
- Safeguard biodiversity intrinsically linked to wildflower habitats (i.e. butterfly, moth, bumblebee, and wildflower species)
- Provide a model to Local Authorities of good Local Wildlife Site management ; supporting NI 197 targets.
