Between 2015 and 2018, through support from the John Ellerman Foundation the FMP undertook the Floodplain Meadows Restoration Project. This project aimed to gain a greater understanding of the extent of current floodplain-meadow-restoration effort across the UK.
The Partnership established that there were at least 842 ha of land, across 174 sites, undergoing restoration to floodplain meadow in England and Wales, with more sites coming on-line. The area under restoration is a very significant contribution to the remaining resource (approx. 3,000 ha). We found that, whilst most sites are making some progress towards a successful outcome, 25% of those visited were assessed to be 'failing' or 'making slow progress'. This highlighted that the future of many of these restoration sites depends on sustained and ongoing support in order to achieve appropriate management post restoration.
'Restoring lost hay meadows' was published in 2019 to examine these findings in more detail.
Subsequently, the John Ellerman Foundation has supported a second phase of this project, running from 2021 to 2024. This will enable us to re-visit a proportion of restoration sites to see how they are progressing.
The project objectives are:
(a) Undertake site visits
Re-visit sites from Phase 1 to determine progress.
Re-visit sites where restoration is being considered but not yet implemented.
(b) Grow the body of knowledge around floodplain restoration
Interview landowners and site managers to understand more about their management and restoration activity.
Produce case studies.
Run a conference in year 3 focussed on restoration.
b) Influence Policy
Support Advocacy Manager time to communicate scientific evidence about floodplain-meadow habitats and their restoration to policy makers and Government.
Undertake policy-focussed visits with MPs and officials.
produce an academic paper of our findings and share with Government.
If you are involved in a restoration project and would like to tell us about it, please get in touch.
