Species-Rich Hay Meadow Sites in West Norway: Conservation and Management
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Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 64, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 Species-rich hay meadow sites in West Norway: conservation and management M. H. Losvik Botanical institute, University of Bergen, Norway Abstract Many farms of west Norway are abandoned, and on most of the managed farms only high-intensity farming is practised. On a few of the managed farms, however, ancient agricultural management, with sheep grazing in spring and in autumn, one late cut and no fertilising is still practised, and here long-term use has resulted in species-rich sites. These sites cover small areas on each of the actual farms, as most of the infields is heavily fertilised grasslands and poor in species. Earlier these fertilised parts of the infields were tilled fields for grain production where large amounts of winter manure were applied. The species rich parts of the infield are situated on steep slopes or on shallow soils. This combination of high-intensity and low-intensity farming is highly vulnerable as it is dependent on the farmers' interests and time resources. In this study recordings of vascular plant species, area, aspect, slope, vegetation type and present management of twelve species-rich grassland sites in West Norway were assembled. Only one of the species rich sites is protected by law, and the owners of this and one of the other sites are given a small financial support each year. In order to conserve the vegetation of the sites for the future, long-term management plans and conservation plans are needed. The management of the hay meadows should be made attractive to the farmers by including the hay meadows in developing programs for ago-tourism in these regions. The nature itself, such as fjords, mountains and glaciers has been the main traditional tourist attractions in West Norway till present time. The species-rich gasslands might become one of several additional attractions, as they are situated no more than about one hour by car from main region centres. Organisations for tourism ate already well developed in the regions. Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 64, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 1 Introduction The whole countryside in west Norway was intensively used for agricultural purposes before the Second World War. The small farm units used mixed farming with little or no commercial fertilisers, and the winter manure was used on tilled fields. The coastal heaths and the hills of the fjord regions were both mown and grazed, and deciduous trees were pollarded or coppiced in the hillsides of the valleys and fjords of the inland [l]. In addition the alpine areas were both harvested for fodder and intensively grazed by large husbandry herds during the summer season [2]. Today's conventional agriculture with heavy fertilising, or abandonment, has left few sites where the old, traditional management is still in use [3]. In some cases, especially when spring and autumn grazing of the infields has been continued, the old unfertilised hay meadows are still mown, using a light mower or scythes. In a few cases old pollards are still pollarded, and some of the heaths areas are still grazed and burned. Some unfertilised, formerly mown grasslands have maintained a high species diversity by intensive grazing even if they are not mown any more. Boreal grasslands, namely unfertilised, semi-natural hay meadows and pastures, are examples of high bio-diversity sites [4, 5, 61. Such meadows are in focus for conservation in Scandinavia as well as in other European countries [7, 8, 9, 10, 111. Originally these grasslands were parts of an infield system with many tilled fields on the best areas, and hay meadows on steep parts and in areas with shallow soil in-between the tilled fields [12, 131. Other hay meadows were situated in the best parts of the outfields. The old, traditional management has tended to be continued for the longest time in remote areas along the fjords and valleys, and on islands along the coast, and these areas coincide with the regions of greatest interest for the tourists, with its fjords, mountains, glaciers, alpine skiing centres and fishing opportunities. The aim of the paper is to present an overview of species-rich grasslands which are still managed in West Norway and to discuss measures to secure their conservation involving the continuation of low-intensity farming. 2 Grassland sites and methods 2.1 Study region The climate of the region of Hordaland and Sogn and Fjordane is variable. Along the coasts it is humid with high mean winter temperatures, while in the eastern parts it is dry with low winter temperatures. This affects the grassland vegetation, and sites in the coastal areas and southern exposed hillsides along the fjords belong to the Boreo-Nemoral vegetation zone, while the eastern sites belong to the Southern Boreal vegetation zone [14]. This results in rather large differences in species composition of the hay meadows along the west-east gradient. The topography is equally varied, with high mountains, deep fjords and valleys. The Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 64, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 coast is characterised by many islands. The soils may be poor in minerals, but large areas have a bedrock which is rich in minerals and thus have mineral-rich soils. In southern exposed hillsides along the fjords the local climate is usually much warmer than in other situations, and here warmth-demanding species thrive. 2.2 Data collection Within each site, improved or abandoned grassland was excluded from the investigation. The species within the rest of the sites were then recorded, and area, aspect and slope was estimated. The situation was recorded, whether it was in steep slope(s), around outcrops, bordering sea-cliffs, in remote or small areas of the infield or in borders along paths. The management of the grasslands at the time of investigation was noted during interviews with the farmers. The species were grouped as 1) Indicators of traditional management (TM indicators), 2) Common (trivial) grassland species, and 3) Additional species according to Losvik [15, 161. The indicators of traditional management are of special interest with respect to the conservation of hay meadows. They comprise both rare and more widespread species characteristic of unfertilised, semi-natural grasslands in the region. Such species have been recorded in ~60%of hay meadow plots investigated in West Norway 1972-1993. In these studies 548 plots of 1-16 m2 each at 196 sites were studied, 310 of the plots were considered as species-rich [16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 221. The present limit derives from the author's experience of species that are infrequent or absent in moderately or well- fertilised grasslands in West Norway. Grassland species occurring in more than 60% of the plots were considered as common grassland species. Additional species were largely forest or wetland species. A group of vulnerable grassland species in West Norway [23] was also considered. These species were found in <23% of the plots in the mentioned data set. Nomenclature is according to Lid & Lid [24]. 2.3 Old, traditional management of hay meadows Traditionally the hay meadows were mown once a year late in season, in July- August. Different kinds of scythes were used. The grass was dried on racks or flat on the ground. In addition to mowing, the grasslands were grazed in spring from late April to early June, and in autumn from late September onwards. After the spring grazing period, the meadows were raked for remnants of manure and twigs from trees. No extra manure or fertilisers were applied. These management practices have probably prevailed since medieval times [13]. Mineral losses are made up for by trickling water from near-by arable fields and mineral-rich andlor nutrient rich springs, or by weathering of stone particles in the soil. The spreading of faeces during grazing is also important in keeping up the mineral and nutrient balance. Thus the use is presumable sustainable, with low quantities Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 64, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 of nitrogen and phosphorous in the soil and hence low production as integrated parts of the system. 2.4 Tourism and organisations Modern agriculture, fisheries, aqua-culture, tourism and the national policy have supported the inhabitation of remote areas in West Norway, and thus created the necessary foundation for the continued management of the high bio-diversity sites. The Nature Councils at national and county level have only small resources to support the management of cultural landscape sites. The Agricultural councils, however, use some recourses each year to support farmers who still manage their farms in an old traditional way. Hordaland has ca 1.7 million visitors and Sogn and Fjordane has ca 1.1 million visitors a year [26]. The fjords, mountains and glaciers are the main traditional tourist attractions in the region. Organisations for tourism and guiding are well developed in the regions. The city of Bergen, with its quarter of a million inhabitants, its airport, train, bus and boat connections to other parts of West Norway and the capital Oslo, act as an entrance for the tourists. Some of the sites in the present set of grasslands have additional features of interest, such as large size, easy admittance, owner in favour of tourism, shores suitable for swimming, walking paths and surroundings of unspoiled rural landscape. The potential resources of local museums and historic societies in managing high bio-diversity sites have still not been much used in Norway. Table 1: Situation of the investigated farms.