Reviving wood-pastures for biodiversity and people: A case study from western Estonia

Abstract

Wood-pastures are associated with high cultural and biodiversity values in Europe. However, due to their relatively low productivity, large areas of wood-pastures have been lost over the last century. In some areas, incentive schemes have been developed to revive wood-pastures. We investigated the effects of one such scheme in western Estonia. We compared the structure of grazed wood-pastures (old and restored) to those of abandoned wood-pastures and ungrazed forest stands to explore the effects of management, and conducted interviews with 24 farmers to investigate their motivations to carry out the management. We found a positive influence of active management on the semi-open structure of wood-pastures. Financial support was vital for management, but personal values related to tradition also played an important role. The interviewees differed widely in their range of motivations, suggesting that other strategies in addition to financial incentives would further improve the management of wood-pastures in the region.

Mountain wood-pastures and forest cover loss in Romania

“…Most interviewees gave examples of clearing shrubs and young trees on pastures in order to get access to direct payments, even though many areas were less used or no longer needed for livestock grazing (abandoned grassland areas). This behavior has also been identified in studies targeting other areas (Karali, Brunner, Doherty, Hersperger, & Rounsevell, 2014;Roellig et al, 2016). However, despite these actions, it is very unlikely that large areas of mountain wood-pastures would lose tree cover in this way in Romania.…”

“…Wood-pastures represent a distinctive element of the traditional European rural landscape (Wiezik et al, 2018). They have had an essential role in supporting raising extensive livestock Hartel, Plieninger, & Varga, 2015;Roellig et al, 2016). Wood-pastures are also important for their ecological and socio-cultural values because of their role in the conservation of biodiversity and cultural landscapes in Europe (Bergmeier, Petermann, & Schröder, 2010;Garrido, 2017;Hartel & Plieninger, 2014;Hartel, Réti, & Craioveanu, 2017;Plieninger et al, 2015).…”

“…Studies on long-term land cover change showed that the woody vegetation cover in the Carpathian Mountains increased because of the abandonment of farming (Griffiths, Müller, Kuemmerle, & Hostert, 2013;Kuemmerle, Müller, Griffiths, & Rusu, 2009;Munteanu et al, 2014;Vanonckelen & Van Rompaey, 2015). At the same time, wood-pastures are affected by agricultural policies: an increased interest was recently paid to their vulnerability towards tree cover loss as a consequence of applying CAP regulations Roellig et al, 2016). Because of their tree cover, wood-pastures are also targeted by logging.…”

The importance of trees for woody pasture bird diversity and effects of the European Union's tree density policy

“…Therefore, to bridge the gap between policy‐making processes and the action taken by farmers, including the complete link from policy to biodiversity through management is essential for successful policy recommendation (Mattison & Norris ), especially as monetary income is essential to farmers (Roellig et al . ). We see our study as a first step towards a more informed subsidy system for woody pastures without explicitly covering this complex chain of actions and consequences (Sutherland et al .…”

“…Since approximately 40% of the European Union's (EU) budget goes to agricultural support (European Commission ) within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and subsidy dependence among European farmers is high (European Commission ), CAP recommendations are key instruments affecting biodiversity (Roellig et al . ). However, misdirected policy recommendations may offset biodiversity conservation (Jakobsson & Lindborg ), stressing the urgent need for policy‐relevant science to inform such policy recommendations (Rands et al .…”