Project Summary
Burnt heath
Photo: Courtesy English Nature
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In 2001 the Urban Heath Partnership was awarded £1.2 million by the European
Union's LIFE - nature fund to help combat urban pressures on the internationally
important heathlands in south east Dorset. This money was matched by the partnership
to fund the Urban Heaths LIFE Project (UHLP).
Activities conducted by the UHLP include wardening of heaths, 'incident' reporting,
provision of new fire fighting equipment for the Dorset Fire and Rescue Service,
support of a Heathland and Wildlife Protection Officer in Dorset Police, and an
education programme to improve understanding of the importance of the urban heathlands
as an ecological and cultural asset.
Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC) has been responsible since April 2002
for collating and managing information on 'incidents' occurring on UHLP sites. These
incidents comprise any activity that could have a detrimental effect on the heathland
habitats and species, and any criminal behaviour, and range from dogs on the loose,
vandalism of trees, fences and gates, motorcyclists and mountain bikers riding across
out-of-bounds areas, to potentially the most damaging: heathland fires.
DFRS attending a heath fire
Photo: Courtesy English Nature
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Details of incidents are received by DERC from 2 sources: UHLP and partner
organisation wardens, and Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS). DERC then collate
this information into a database and Geographical Information System (GIS). These
data are then available for a variety of uses. For example, revealing trends and
patterns in activity, allowing wardening to be targeted to the most affected places
or times, and providing information on possible suspects to Dorset Police.
From the data collected in 2002, the most frequent incidents reported were fires
(the majority being malicious rather than accidentally started), motorcylists, fly
tipping, cyclists and BMX ramp-building. In total 102 fires on UHLP sites were
reported. The area of burn was only recorded for 46 of these fires, but totalled
60.8 hectares in extent. Certain sites were targeted significantly more frequently
than others, Kinson Common, Turbary Common, Upton Heath, Canford Heath, and Bourne
Bottom being the most vulnerable. Many of these fires were luckily small - they
either did not spread or were discovered early on. One that did unfortunately
spread was that on Upton Heath on 6th April. This affected a total area of 60
hectares and involved 74 DFRS vehicles. It burnt areas of important habitats
including 20 hectares of dry heath, 10 hectares of wet heath, 10 hectares of bog,
and 10 hectares of scrub and trees.
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Contact Details
For further details on the UHLP, please contact:
Heather Tidball, Partnership Manager, Urban Heaths
Partnership, on 01202 886201 ext 2282 or 01202 642787
or visit the Dorset
Heaths project website on the Dorset County Council
website
(www.dorsetforyou.com).
For further information on DERCs involvement in the project please contact:
Jon Corkill on 01305 225081.
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Dorset Environmental Records Centre