Credit: The Really Good Media Company
East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Scheme
Working together to support nature recovery in East Dartmoor
Three years ago, we were selected by Defra for the Round 1 of its ambitious Landscape Recovery Scheme, a key pillar of the new Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS). Our pioneering project is based in East Dartmoor and received funding for its development phase. We have worked with partners, local farmers, landowners and community representatives to build plans to support nature recovery and resilience at landscape scale, across an area totalling 2,500 hectares.
The plans are now being reviewed by Defra, and if successful, the Scheme will be supported long-term by a 20-year implementation agreement.
Upcoming events
Join the project team to learn more about the scheme’s aims, the species and habitats it will work to protect, and how local communities can get involved as work gets underway in 2027/2028.
Why East Dartmoor?
East Dartmoor is a special place. Its landscape is a mosaic of tors, moors, mires, heaths, species-rich grasslands and arguably its greatest wildlife asset of all, the wooded valleys, which contain internationally important temperate rainforests (also known as Atlantic oak woodlands). East Dartmoor has become a refuge for a wealth of wildlife species that are threatened with extinction elsewhere.
Take a look at the summary findings of flagship species found in East Dartmoor
However, with visitor pressure at an all-time high, wide-ranging risks exerted by a fast-changing climate, and a succession of emerging tree diseases, the health of this landscape hangs in the balance.
What are the goals of the East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Scheme?
Changes to farm support programmes in England will have major impacts on future land management. Local people who farm and manage the land will face some income streams reducing and others disappearing altogether. The Landscape Recovery Scheme offers an opportunity to secure alternative support for rural livelihoods, and to ensure nature’s future resilience and recovery.
We envisage future East Dartmoor as a thriving, working landscape with outstanding natural diversity and resilience, where natural processes, such as soil formation and natural woodland regeneration, play important roles.
Strong networks of vibrant, dynamic habitats will show England’s uplands at their very best.
How will these goals be achieved?
Over the next 20+ years, the partnership will focus on:
- Expanding priority habitats such as temperate rainforest, wet woodland, mires and heaths
- Connecting fragmented habitats within East Dartmoor and to neighbouring valleys such as the Dart and Teign
- Enhancing habitat quality for threatened species through native woodland restoration and control of invasive species
- Naturalising rivers and streams and softening hard landscape boundaries where appropriate
- Encouraging greater variety and abundance of species and exploring the possibility of reintroducing native fauna that has been recently lost from the landscape (such as water voles)
- Supporting land managers through tailored support, shared learning and collaboration
- Engaging local communities and visitors by helping everyone learn about, value and care for East Dartmoor’s wildlife, farming and landscape
Who is involved in the East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Scheme?
The Scheme is a partnership of local farmers, commoners, landowners, and environmental organisations.
Devon Wildlife Trust is leading the project’s development phase, supported by key partner organisations: Dartmoor National Park Authority, National Trust, Natural England, and the Woodland Trust. All have successful track records of working alongside farmers and landowners to secure agri-environment funds for landscape-scale, conservation land management. Together the partners also play vital roles as owners and managers of substantial landholdings in the East Dartmoor project area.
Further specialist skills and knowledge vital to project delivery have been provided by the University of Exeter, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Devon Biodiversity Records Centre.
What we have achieved so far
Over the past three years, the East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Scheme has focused on a careful, locally-led development phase. This has included:
- Building a strong partnership across conservation, research, and land management organisations
- Engaging with landowners, farmers, commoners and local community representatives across the Becka, Bovey and Wray catchments
- Compiling detailed ecological surveys to establish a strong baseline for future decision-making
- Co-designing a long-term vision and 20-year delivery plan shaped by local knowledge and practical experience
- Developing governance and funding arrangements to ensure the project remains locally accountable, transparent, collaborative and sustainable
This work has resulted in a comprehensive, 20-year landscape-scale plan for East Dartmoor that balances thriving nature, viable land management and public benefit.
What happens next?
The project has now entered the Defra assurance phase. During this stage, Defra is reviewing the final plans to ensure they deliver strong outcomes for biodiversity, farming, communities and value for public investment.
This assurance process is expected to continue into 2027. Subject to approval, the scheme will then move into a 20-year implementation phase, providing the long-term certainty needed to deliver meaningful, lasting change across East Dartmoor.
Until then, we will continue to share updates, hold information events and keep everyone connected to the journey.
Credit: The Really Good Media Company
Contact
