by Tony Whitehead

Editor’s Note: In 2023, Wild Card launched a petition with 38 degrees calling on Prince William to Bring Back Britain’s Rainforests on his newly inherited Duchy of Cornwall Estate. That Summer, the Duchy made a commitment to double the size of Wistman’s Wood. However, the more we learned about the Dartmoor landscape, the more potential we discovered for the Duchy of Cornwall to do more. The following Autumn, we led a March for a Wild Dartmoor laying down the gauntlet to challenge the Duchy to act for nature. Our aim was to add to the voice of the many local people who were already speaking out for a wilder future. Here, our guest author, Tony Whitehead, explores whether the Duchy listened to our call.

Back in September 2023, I stood with hundreds of others in Princetown at the March for a Wild Dartmoor. Wild Card was leading the call, and their message was aimed squarely at the Duchy of Cornwall, Dartmoor’s biggest landowner:

It’s time to make the Duchy’s land work for nature, not against it.

They boiled their demands down to five clear asks:

1. 1. Bring back Dartmoor’s temperate rainforest.
   
2. 2. Re-wet and restore the bogs and heaths.
   
3. 3. Recreate species-rich meadows.
   
4. 4. Reintroduce or protect keystone species.
   
5. 5. Support farmers to farm for food and nature.
   

Fast forward to 2025, and the Duchy has now laid its cards on the table with a new 20-year Landscape Vision for Dartmoor. The big question is: how does the vision measure up to the calls made by the marchers on that September day?

The Rainforest Dream

If you’ve ever visited Wistman’s Wood, you’ll know how special it is. Twisted oaks dripping with moss, boulders smothered in lichens. It feels ancient, magical, otherworldly. It’s also tiny.

Wild Card called for Dartmoor’s lost rainforest to be restored. And to be fair, the Duchy has made a start. They have already committed to doubling the size of Wistman’s Wood by 2024, and volunteers have already planted a few hundred oak saplings nearby. That’s great, and symbolic.

But here’s the rub: doubling something very small still leaves it very small. Wistman’s is just a fragment, and scaling up from there will take real ambition. However, the Vision goes some way towards this.  It discusses identifying core areas for viable woodland expansion. For the high open moor it talks about, where appropriate, allowing wet woodland, valley woodlands and open woodland habitats to develop. For the newtakes below the high moor, it talks about promoting scrub and wood pasture systems.  The artist’s images of possible Dartmoor futures show a very wooded landscape.  This is great and is all very welcome to see. Fully realised, we could yet see Dartmoor develop as much more forested land. 

Breathing Life into the Bogs

Dartmoor’s blanket bogs are its beating heart, storing carbon, filtering water, and providing a home to rare wildlife. For decades, they’ve been drained and degraded.

The new Vision extensively discusses peatland restoration. And it is supportive; the first listed key principle in the Vision is to maintain and increase upland peatland restoration and protection. However, what is the size of the ambition?  Should the bar be set high with an aim of restoring all the peatlands? 

Get this right, and this isn’t just a win for nature. It’s a win for the climate, for flood protection, and for wildlife. The Vision acknowledges this. Of all the Wild Card demands, this is the one the Duchy must fully embrace, be ambitious, and show leadership. 

Healthy Heaths

Wild Card also called for the restoration of the heaths. And full marks to the Duchy on this one.  Although they are not mentioned extensively, for the heathland on the high moor, the vision is clear about the aim and the method:

Restore heathlands by grazing sensitively. If heathlands are declining in condition or extent, winter grazing should be limited or halted.

What’s crucial here is the Duchy’s understanding of the need to limit or, more radically, halt winter grazing.  Sheep are not explicitly mentioned here, but this acknowledgement of the damage caused to Dartmoor’s heaths by grazing animals is significant. 

Meadows: A Whisper, Not a Shout

Think of a Dartmoor meadow in midsummer: skylarks overhead, orchids dappling the sward, bees bumbling through flower-rich fields. Sadly, that vision belongs mostly to the past. Wild Card wanted meadows back.

The Duchy does mention expanding species-rich grassland and traditional hay meadows in its plan. There is general talk of using “time-honoured farming techniques, which reduce the requirements for off-farm inputs,” and the traditional use of lime to increase plant diversity on naturally acidic grasslands. However, compared to other habitats, meadows seem like a side note. It’s more implied than shouted. And for me, that feels like a missed opportunity. 

Keystone Species: Playing it Safe

This was the most exciting Wild Card demand: bring back the species that can transform an ecosystem. Beavers in rivers? Wildcats in the woods? Eagles above? The possibilities spark the imagination.

The Duchy’s Vision doesn’t go that far. Instead, it highlights the plight of the curlew, a hauntingly beautiful bird now on the edge of extinction on Dartmoor. The Duchy is leading efforts to “head-start” chicks and protect nesting sites.

It’s vital work, I’d hate to lose the curlew’s bubbling call from Dartmoor, but it’s also cautious. There’s no talk of bold reintroductions. Beavers receive only one mention, and you’d need to search carefully to find it. What we are left with is careful protection of what we still have. Vital work, of course, but not exactly the daring step Wild Card had in mind.

Farmers as Nature’s Allies

Rather than pitting nature and farming against each other, the Duchy aims to integrate them. Farmers need to be supported to farm in ways that benefit wildlife: carefully allowing land to recover, managing grazing, planting trees, and creating corridors for nature. As evidence of this, the Duchy’s support for the ambitious Landscape Recovery Areas on Dartmoor is very welcome. Their positive approach to the role of farming in delivering nature addresses Wild Card’s call to reward farmers for producing both nature and food.

So, Did the Duchy Deliver?

The Landscape Vision picks up every Wild Card demand in some form. It sets a long-term course that could genuinely change Dartmoor for the better. But much of it feels cautious, the need to balance the interests of the different parties to a degree, holding back clear focus on what nature needs. To be fair, this is understandable. The Duchy is a business as well as a landowner; it has tenants to manage, it has money to make. It’s not a wildlife charity and its sole purpose is not to deliver nature. 

Viewed through this lens, the vision is good and worthy of praise.  Will it deliver nature restoration at the scale and speed required? Unlikely. But it will help drive change – if this vision is translated into action, then nature will be better off.  

Power to the People

Was the Vision a direct response to the Wild Card march? No. 

However, the influence of people gathering and publicly showing their support for nature is essential. It helps establish an environment conducive to change. Decision-makers may be more willing to go the extra mile for nature if they know this is something that people genuinely care about. If they know it has broad popular support. Showing up to a march is a clear demonstration of this – so a very big thank you to everyone who did. Indirectly, it will have made a difference.  

Of course, this is only the beginning. The Duchy and others need to be held to account for following through on the vision. Any document like this is only as good as the real change it leads to. As people passionate about nature, I urge Wild Card supporters with a keen interest in Dartmoor or rewilding our uplands generally to read the Vision. 

Tony Whitehead lives and works on Dartmoor and is a campaigner for the restoration of nature.