Detailed and well informed plan
From "Have your say on the draft Nature Recovery Plan"
Go to the project
I think this is an excellent and well-informed Nature Recovery Plan that seems to reflect both current ecological thinking and the strengths of Frome's community. Its emphasis on ecological connectivity, river restoration, climate adaptation and community participation is particularly strong. My main suggestion would be to strengthen the delivery framework by identifying a smaller number of headline priorities, setting more measurable ecological outcomes, and placing greater emphasis on long-term habitat management and partnerships with private landowners and community organisations.
It doesn't always distinguish between essential priorities versus nice additional projects. Identifying the five highest priorities for the next five years would help concentrate effort and funding.
More recognition of the importance of private landowners is important. The plan discusses gardens well. However many of the most significant ecological gains around Frome will depend upon partnerships with farmers,estates, churches, schools, and businesses
There needs to be more attention to ecological management over time. Creating habitat is relatively easy. Managing habitat for decades is the difficult part. I would like more discussion around, long-term funding, management agreements, monitoring, adaptive management, succession planning for volunteers. Otherwise excellent projects can slowly deteriorate.
Where I think it could be stronger is in having more measurable ecological outcomes. The objectives are generally activity-based rather than outcome-based. For example there are targets like:
-produce management plans
-hold consultations
--undertake surveys
-engage volunteers
These are useful but they don't necessarily tell us whether nature is actually recovering. I would like to see other ecological outcome indicators such as:
-% increase in tree canopy cover
-hectares of species-rich grassland restored
-kilometres of connected hedgerow
-river phosphate reduction targets (where influence exists)
-increase in breeding bird populations
-increase in pollinator abundance
-increase in priority species occupancy etc etc etc
Its a good foundation for nature recovery in Frome and has the potential to become an exemplar for other towns if implemented effectively.