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Case Studies |
Examples from Partners
Scotland
Ellon Landscape and Nature Framework
The Ellon Landscape and Nature Framework links local people to the natural landscapes within and around Ellon, particularly the River Ythan and the woodlands.
The framework: ( 1) Identifies existing natural and semi natural environments in and around Ellon; ( 2) Id entifies people’s physical, cultural and mental linkages to these natural environments; and ( 3) Improves access and biodiversity linkages for local people with the natural environment. One of the outputs has been the production of an Ellon Wildlife Leaflet in partnership with the local high school and the involvement of local people in the establishment of a new community woodland at Balmacassie.
www.visitellon.co.uk
Ellon Public Art (See 'Identity' component).
The Don & Ury Green Infrastructure Study
The Don & Ury Green Infrastructure Study has been commissioned as part of the SusSET project, The main aim of the project is to integrate long term planning proposals into the semi natural landscapes and habitats of these 2 river valleys, retaining the people of Inverurie’s access to clean rivers, native woodlands and grasslands in the future (see ‘Long Term Planning’ component). The Study assesses how these habitats provide green infrastructure for clean air, fresh water, drainage water, wood timber, fishing, wild and cultivated foods, and a range of recreational or educational activities.
See www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/index.asp
Landscape Analysis 1) River Corridors 2) Designed Landscape Boundaries 3) Designated Wildlife Sites, 4) Ancient Monuments & Listed Buildings 5) Community Woodlands, 6) Inverurie & Port Elphinstone Settlement Boundary - Local Plan 7) Footpaths/Tracks
Contact: Steven Gray email
Dunnottar Woodland Park Initiative
Dunnottar Woods, Stonehaven is recognised as a best practice example of this type of initiative in Scotland. The Woodland Park Initiative identified Forest Enterprise woods that are used by local communities for recreation and encourage these communities to become involved in the improvement of these woods for the communities benefit. The Dunnottar Woodland Park project is a partnership between the Stonehaven community, Forest Enterprise and Aberdeenshire Council. The Dunnottar Woodland Park Association has been constituted to help achieve the objectives of the project and to secure the long-term interests of the community in the wood. The work involves: footpath creation, maintenance, addressing cycling issues, increasing biodiversity of woods, promotion of educational value and usage of woods to local schools, provision of signage, interpretation, repair and reinstatement of historical and architectural artefacts, forest management, promotion of community involvement, promotion of events in the woods. Finance is currently raised on a project-by-project basis, but a recent public inquiry decision by the Secretary of State has resulted in both a land, and a financial contribution to the Woodland Park Management Group being a condition of granting a nearby housing approval. The Dunnottar Woodland Management Group have an annually updated, itemised, five year Action Plan with enough existing potential projects to carry out over the next five to ten years.
Contact: Craig Stewart email
Koster Marine National Park
To the west of Strömstad lie the Koster Islands, noted for the beauty of its scenery.
North Koster is a mere 4km2 consisting of both a beautiful and dramatic nature within a small area. Here you can find delightful beaches, heather clad moors and brushwoods. South Koster is the larger of the two islands, about 8km2. Bicycles can be rented and short excursions made. There is a process going on at making a Marine National park of the Koster Islands and the surrounding waters. This is a process involving the local government, the region and the inhabitants within the planned National park.
Contact: Bjorn Alm email
Seal reserve (sealarium): protection and restoration of endangered species
 The Hel Marine Station was established in 1992 and is a field station in the organizational structure of the Institute of Oceanography in the Faculty of Biology, Geography and Oceanology at the University of Gdańsk. The station serves as a research facility for students of biology and researchers both from Poland and all over the world. The station is equipped with aquariums and breeding tanks with seawater flow that are indispensable to experiments that aim to replicate conditions as close to the naturally existing ones as possible. This also creates the possibility of flora and fauna research and their reactions to different hydrological conditions, the effects of pollution on their health, their growth and reproductive abilities. The existence of such a system allowed the commencement of a long-term project to restore grey seals to the Polish coast of the Baltic Sea. The seal reserve, where the seals are kept in artificially created aquariums, is open to visitors, who can observe the seals and also see them during feeding times. This allows funds to be raised for the project. The facility has a room below ground level, where visitors can watch the seals’ underwater activity through a special window pane. The reserve also plays an educative role on ecology of the sea, for example in one room, the litter collected from the sea is exhibited, and the negative impact on environment is described.
http://hel.hel.univ.gda.pl/info/helmarinestation.htm
Examples from Elsewhere
Montignac (population 3000)
Replica of Lascaux Cave
Lascaux is a complex of caves in south-western France, nearby the village of Montignac. It was discovered by accident in 1940 by four teenagers, and soon it was open to public. The Cave of Lascaux became famous for its prehistoric paintings. The cave complex contains some of the most well-known Upper Palaeolithic art, dating back to somewhere between 15,000 and 13,000 BC. The complex consists mostly of realistic images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. Unfortunately the paintings are very fragile, and their long endurance requires the natural climate of the cave. The visitors raise the temperature, change humidity, bring dust and plants seeds into the cave and, last but not least, the light of the lamps bleaches the paintings and makes the growth of plants possible. By 1955, the carbon dioxide produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. Because of this the, cave was closed in 1963.
Since the Lascaux Cave was closed to the public, a replica has been created at Montignac, 200 metres from the original cave, where two of the galleries have been reproduced: the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery. Thanks the scientists who prepared the project of create the replica, Lascaux is still available for tourists. The project achieved two goals: protected the original caves which had been added to UNESCO World Heritage Sites list, and allowed tourists to access site where they could get the feel of Palaeolithic history.
www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
Mull of Galloway in Wigtown, Scotland (population 980)
Conservation Education
Scotland’s most southerly tip, the Mull of Galloway, attracts over 40,000 visitors a year. It is renowned for its unspoilt coastal landscape including striking geological formations, seabird nesting areas and marine wildlife. These features make it of significant importance to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), who has established the area as a nature reserve. In addition, it is classified as a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI). In order to preserve the integrity of these important landscape features and allow visitors to continue enjoying the site, Dumfries and Galloway Council established a visitor centre by reusing an old building already located on the site. The visitor centre provides essential facilities for tourists, and serves as an educational facility by providing an exhibition of the unique natural heritage features as well as the history of human interaction with the Mull. It also allows a full time warden to be present in the summer months to oversee the conservation management of the site.
www.solwayheritage.co.uk/casestudies.asp
Lake Charm, Victoria Australia (population 1000)
Providing for Eco-tourism
The small town of Lake Charm is located on the Kerang Lakes stretching across 9,419 hectares including 22 wetland areas. The area is home to a diverse collection of flora and fauna and is an important breeding ground for the Ibis. Every year it attracts tourists, birdwatchers, bushwalkers and naturalists. Lake Charm is the hub of water sports and recreation activity in the area, serving as a gateway to the lakes. The high quality of this environment is protected under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Local residents used this designation as an opportunity for, rather than a constraint on development. They received a grant from the Small Town Development Fund from Victoria government and financial assistance from the local council and other private groups to build an eco-friendly visitor centre. The centre provides visitors with educational and historic information about the lakes and the town. It is complemented by paths guiding visitors safely to and from the focal points in the area. The visitor centre has been successful in encouraging visitors to stay in the area longer, helping the economy of the small town through eco-tourism. In addition to this, it has strengthened community pride, with local residents seeing their hard work paying off immediately.
www.business.vic.gov.au/busvicwr/_
assets/main/lib60018/stdf_lake%20charm.pdf
Messel, Germany (population circa 4,000)
Natural Heritage is everywhere
The small town of Messel is located near a former oil shale mine in the central state Land Hessen. Fossilised remains were found during the course of excavation as early as 1900. These fossils were usually removed and sold to collectors. Mining activity finished in the 1960s and the site was opened to private prospectors who further excavated and removed fossils. In 1971, seeing no other alternative use for the site, the government proposed its conversion to a landfill. Residents of Messel protested against this proposal and called in the help of scientists and other experts to examine the site. In spite of a long history of fossils being removed from the site, the scientists found the largest and most preserved fossil deposition of flora and fauna from the Geiseltalian period, 50 million years ago. The significance of this find sparked residents and scientists to call for the site’s preservation. The government quickly purchased the site and protected it with a perimeter fence to stop the removal of fossils by private collectors. They formulated an environmental management plan in order to maintain the integrity of the remaining fossils and preserve the area as a heritage monument. In 1995 it was listed under World Heritage protection. It is now one of the main attractors of visitors into Messel. Visitors can walk along the rim of the quarry, take part in controlled organised tours to view fossils close up, or view excavated fossils on display in the town’s museum.
whc.unesco.org
Sahy, Slovakia (population 7,973)
Taking Responsibility for Natural Heritage
The small town of Sahy is located near the border between Slovakia and Budapest. It is primarily an agricultural service town with strong ties to the Ipel’ River. Without an environmental management plan, the quality of the area has suffered due to agricultural production, canalization and over-fishing. In 1992, a group of local Sahy residents founded Ipel Union, and NGO whose mission is the “conservation and revitalisation of the natural and cultural values of the Ipel’ River watershed”. In order to achieve this aim, the NGO focuses on carrying out research into the effects of human activities on the biodiversity and integrity of the area, and campaigns for awareness of conservation issues. A testament to its success, in 1998 the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands recognised the floodplain area of Poiplie, 6km from Sahy, as an area of international significance. As part of their ongoing work, the Ipel Union have purchased a derelict communist base which they hope to convert to the Kingfisher Centre for use as a focal point for visitors to the area. Natural heritage-based tourism would contribute significantly to the local economy and also serve as a platform for showcasing the areas rich cultural heritage.
www.archnetwork.org
Walderslade (population 5000)
Walderslade Amenity Woodlands
Waldersalde's name originally is a Saxon name meaning ‘wooded valley’. The woodlands are classified as being semi-natural ancient woodland. The wood has an invisible medieval history. Three local government authorities are based on the boundaries that existed within the wood during medieval times. The project will encourage the local community to reclaim their ownership of the woods, which have suffered vandals, joy riders and fly tippers.The project group have undertaken task days to reclaim paths, cut back vegetation and to clear litter. The local Scout Group have adopted the wood for their Environmental Badge and the local primary school is interested in using the woods for nature studies and walks. The group will, with the help of the local community, produce specially designed leaflets (a circular walk leaflet and 3 for flora, fauna & ecology of the woods), a sign-posted circular walk, interpretation/ information boards, 20 waymarkers, kissing gates and a footpath map.
www.lhi.org.uk
Over Norton, England (pop c.10,000)
Local Heritage initiative - The Swere Project
The River Swere is 15.8 miles long. It arises from a spring in Over Norton parish and flows to the Rive Cherwell on the eastern edge of Deddington parish. The project is documenting the natural and social heritage of the River including woodland, ponds, marshland and water mill sites. The river is important to a number of villages in the area and volunteers have been recruited from these villages to help in the project, carrying out wildlife and investigations into profiles of the river and marshland. Many of those volunteers are experts in their fields. The inspiration of the project was the question ‘Where does river comes from?’ and a local photographer. He had to take regular exercise and for three times a week in good weather walked along a section of its banks and over time literally got the picture of the river. The River Swere is the great unifier in the landscape. It was here long before human habitation. The group have led river walks of local schoolchildren and villagers that have been very popular and they have created an exhibition of their work that was shown at the annual conference of the Botanical Society of the British Isles that attracted a lot of attention. The book of the project was published in 2004 as a good example for similar villages.
www.lhi.org.uk
Principal Contacts
Poland : www.mos.gov.pl
Scotland www.snh.org.uk
UNESCO World Heritage Centre: http://whc.unesco.org/
EU - www.natura.org
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: www.ramsar.org
Foundations of Success: www.fosonline.org
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers: www2.btcv.org.uk/display/btcv_home
Conservation International: www.conservation.org
The Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network: www.cbnrm.net
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