Peak District Targets
Peak District Targets
Biodiversity Action Plan targets are only set for work directly affecting priority habitats and species. Alongside these specific targets, increasing awareness of biodiversity issues and engagement with communities are important elements of the Plan. The BAP Partnership will seek to communicate shared biodiversity messages through partners' publications and websites, and also through relevant strategies such as the emerging Working with People and Communities Strategy for the National Park.
Target Terminology
To achieve consistency across Action Plans at different scales, standard terminology is normally used, particularly when it comes to targets.
Firstly, targets should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound).
Secondly, targets should fall into one of the following set categories – for habitats: Maintenance, Achieving Condition, Restoration, Expansion; for species: Population, Range.
It is helpful to consider targets for maintaining extent and achieving condition as relating to the existing resource, while restoration and expansion represent activity on areas which do not currently qualify as the BAP habitat. For instance, a species-rich hay meadow would require maintaining; a hay meadow which has low diversity or a weed problem would need to achieve condition; an old hay meadow which has fallen out of management and only has one or two indicator species requires restoration; and a field which comprises semi-improved or improved grassland is not a hay meadow but could present an opportunity for expansion. This is represented in the diagram below.
By continuing to gather and update our data we are able to set some numerical targets for habitats based on our knowledge of the resource. Other targets are more strategic, indicating areas of the Peak District where we would like to see focus on maintenance, restoration or creation of certain habitat types. We have set some strategic and numerical targets for each of the three National Character Areas – Dark Peak, White Peak and South West Peak.
Peak District-wide Targets
- Maintain extent of all BAP quality habitats.
- Maintain favourable/recovering condition over 95% of the area of all SSSIs and move 50% from Recovering to Favourable condition.
- Achieve favourable condition on BAP habitats surrounding SSSIs by securing appropriate conservation agreements (see maps for appropriate locations).
- Restore relict habitats and expand the area of BAP habitat to connect the highest quality habitats across large areas (see maps for appropriate locations).
- Diversify species-poor grasslands, moorlands, wetlands and woodlands by lower intensity management.
- Achieve increases in the populations of key species – lapwing, curlew, twite, water vole, great crested newt, white-clawed crayfish (and others identified here).