Our Campaigning
We campaign to protect and conserve the National Park – to influence government policy and inform national opinion.
Our research, publications and the Spring Conference we hold in partnership with the Exmoor National Park Authority are the engines for evidence-based solutions to the problems facing the park, and our regular press releases and use of social media take our campaigns to a wide audience. Links with other national organisations are vital, too, and we work with national bodies such as the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) to protect Exmoor’s assets and landscape whether moorland, woodlands, farmland or the 34-mile-long fringe of spectacular coast.
Moorlands
Moorlands are at the core of the National Park and occupy a central position, covering around 18,332 ha or just over a quarter of the total designated area. There is a long history of human management as illustrated by the number of Neolithic standing stones, barrows, and Iron Age hill forts. The last 200 years has seen a loss of moorland, particularly the heather moors, despite being highly prized for its beauty, wildness, tranquillity and diversity of wildlife and making an economic contribution with livestock grazing, field sports, tourism and water and carbon storage.
The Exmoor Society has been closely involved in the debate on moorland loss, originating in 1958 as a result of threats of afforestation to The Chains, a remote part of central Exmoor. We published an influential pamphlet ‘Can Exmoor Survive?” in 1966 and contributed to Lord Porchester’s report that led to the introduction of management agreements. In 2004, to celebrate Exmoor National Park’s 50th anniversary, we commissioned the seminal report ‘Moorlands at a Crossroads‘ and followed this up with an update in 2016. There are many demands on how moorland should be used, ranging from calls for re-wilding, increasing biodiversity, encouraging different recreational activities and food production and much debate over land management including swaling (burning), the amount and timing of livestock grazing, etc.
Woodlands
There are 9.376 ha of woodland on Exmoor representing about 13.5 per cent of the area. Upland oak is the most widespread type of broadleaf woodland. It exists in shallow, nutrient-poor soils where the climate is cool and wet. Sessile oaks and birch are dominant with hazel in some areas. Stream sides contain ash; wood sorrel, bilberry and cow wheat are common frond flora plus mosses, ferns and lichens. Most of the woodlands have been managed intensively over the last 1,000 years.
A report commissioned in 2012 by The Exmoor Society, Exmoor National Park and others, ‘Unlocking Exmoor’s Woodland Potential‘, argued that woodlands were good for people, for nature and for the economy and made 18 recommendations. A Woodland Advisory Group has been set up to take these forward.
The Exmoor Society has been closely involved in the debate on moorland loss, originating in 1958 as a result of threats of afforestation to The Chains, a remote part of central Exmoor. We published an influential pamphlet ‘Can Exmoor Survive?” in 1966 and contributed to Lord Porchester’s report that led to the introduction of management agreements. In 2004, to celebrate Exmoor National Park’s 50th anniversary, we commissioned the seminal report ‘Moorlands at a Crossroads‘ and followed this up with an update in 2016. There are many demands on how moorland should be used, ranging from calls for re-wilding, increasing biodiversity, encouraging different recreational activities and food production and much debate over land management including swaling (burning), the amount and timing of livestock grazing, etc.
Farmland
Farmed for thousands of years Exmoor’s hills are studded with the farms that create the landscape’s characteristic mosaic of small fields and hedgerows. As the EU subsidies end the relationship between agriculture and the environment will inevitably alter and the Exmoor Society is at the heart of the debate as to what direction it will take in the National Park. The government’s 25-year plan set some broad parameters that link future farming subsidy to the quality of the environment and our 2018 report, Towards a Register of Exmoor’s Natural Capital, has gone some of the way towards showing how this quality can be valued and then measured by environmental economists. The report shows how Natural Capital – the things nature gives us for free such as soil, water, wildlife, beauty and heritage – can be identified, protected and enhanced.
The Society also worked alongside the Exmoor Hill Farming Network, Exmoor National Park Authority and other groups to produce Exmoor’s Ambition, a template for the structure of future farming subsidies. It suggests that farmers should be offered financial incentives to produce “public goods” – to protect and develop the Natural and also Cultural Capital that have shaped the landscape.
A report commissioned in 2012 by The Exmoor Society, Exmoor National Park and others, ‘Unlocking Exmoor’s Woodland Potential‘, argued that woodlands were good for people, for nature and for the economy and made 18 recommendations. A Woodland Advisory Group has been set up to take these forward.
The Exmoor Society has been closely involved in the debate on moorland loss, originating in 1958 as a result of threats of afforestation to The Chains, a remote part of central Exmoor. We published an influential pamphlet ‘Can Exmoor Survive?” in 1966 and contributed to Lord Porchester’s report that led to the introduction of management agreements. In 2004, to celebrate Exmoor National Park’s 50th anniversary, we commissioned the seminal report ‘Moorlands at a Crossroads‘ and followed this up with an update in 2016. There are many demands on how moorland should be used, ranging from calls for re-wilding, increasing biodiversity, encouraging different recreational activities and food production and much debate over land management including swaling (burning), the amount and timing of livestock grazing, etc.
Farmland
Residents and visitors alike are attracted to Exmoor for its natural beauty, cultural heritage and the many recreational opportunities it provides. With a population of around 10,000 and over 2 million visitors a year, tourism is Exmoor’s biggest earner; it brings in an estimated £105m a year and creates the equivalent of more than 2,000 full-time jobs. The Exmoor Society works with its partners to improve access and recreation, to enable as much enjoyment of the National Park as it can provide without losing the qualities that make it so precious.
We have joint projects and campaigns ranging from establishing an ‘Exmoor Curriculum’ for schools, to setting up a ‘Celebration Woodland’ at Wimbleball, the project to conserve and interpret the West Somerset Mineral Line, and chairing the Moorland Landscape Partnership for Heritage Lottery Funding.
The Society also worked alongside the Exmoor Hill Farming Network, Exmoor National Park Authority and other groups to produce Exmoor’s Ambition, a template for the structure of future farming subsidies. It suggests that farmers should be offered financial incentives to produce “public goods” – to protect and develop the Natural and also Cultural Capital that have shaped the landscape.
A report commissioned in 2012 by The Exmoor Society, Exmoor National Park and others, ‘Unlocking Exmoor’s Woodland Potential‘, argued that woodlands were good for people, for nature and for the economy and made 18 recommendations. A Woodland Advisory Group has been set up to take these forward.
The Exmoor Society has been closely involved in the debate on moorland loss, originating in 1958 as a result of threats of afforestation to The Chains, a remote part of central Exmoor. We published an influential pamphlet ‘Can Exmoor Survive?” in 1966 and contributed to Lord Porchester’s report that led to the introduction of management agreements. In 2004, to celebrate Exmoor National Park’s 50th anniversary, we commissioned the seminal report ‘Moorlands at a Crossroads‘ and followed this up with an update in 2016. There are many demands on how moorland should be used, ranging from calls for re-wilding, increasing biodiversity, encouraging different recreational activities and food production and much debate over land management including swaling (burning), the amount and timing of livestock grazing, etc.
Game Shooting
We have joint projects and campaigns ranging from establishing an ‘Exmoor Curriculum’ for schools, to setting up a ‘Celebration Woodland’ at Wimbleball, the project to conserve and interpret the West Somerset Mineral Line, and chairing the Moorland Landscape Partnership for Heritage Lottery Funding.
The Society also worked alongside the Exmoor Hill Farming Network, Exmoor National Park Authority and other groups to produce Exmoor’s Ambition, a template for the structure of future farming subsidies. It suggests that farmers should be offered financial incentives to produce “public goods” – to protect and develop the Natural and also Cultural Capital that have shaped the landscape.
A report commissioned in 2012 by The Exmoor Society, Exmoor National Park and others, ‘Unlocking Exmoor’s Woodland Potential‘, argued that woodlands were good for people, for nature and for the economy and made 18 recommendations. A Woodland Advisory Group has been set up to take these forward.
The Exmoor Society has been closely involved in the debate on moorland loss, originating in 1958 as a result of threats of afforestation to The Chains, a remote part of central Exmoor. We published an influential pamphlet ‘Can Exmoor Survive?” in 1966 and contributed to Lord Porchester’s report that led to the introduction of management agreements. In 2004, to celebrate Exmoor National Park’s 50th anniversary, we commissioned the seminal report ‘Moorlands at a Crossroads‘ and followed this up with an update in 2016. There are many demands on how moorland should be used, ranging from calls for re-wilding, increasing biodiversity, encouraging different recreational activities and food production and much debate over land management including swaling (burning), the amount and timing of livestock grazing, etc.
