Nature conservation and pastoralism in Wallonia

Abstract

Presently, extensive farming is very marginal and only present in particular economic and ecological situations, but in the past pastoralism was common in Wallonia, especially on poor, dry, wet or peaty soils, which developed on calcareous or acidic rocks of the Calestienne and Ardennes regions. Sandy soils were also present in the north, but to a lesser extent. Sheep used to graze common lands, heaths and moors on acidic soils, and calcareous grasslands on limestone or chalk. Cattle and horses used to graze in coppiced woodlands or forests. Wet meadows along streams and rivers, and mires were mown for Hwinter fodder or livestock bedding. Nowadays, last remnants of old pastoral landscapes are to be found on the poorest soils of the uplands or on steep slopes of rocky hills not (yet) reafforested.

For many reasons, extensive grazing has rarely been used as a management tool for biodiversity conservation or restoration until recently, even in old pastoral landscapes. Restoration or management operations have frequently been carried out through mechanical management, and the use of large grazers for restoration or maintenance is quite recent. Where they are used, these are hardy breeds of cattle or ponies in wet pastures and abandoned meadows, sheep in heathlands and moors and sheep in association with goats in dry grasslands. Animals belong to NGOs, to amateur stockbreeders or to the Nature and Forests Administration. Sites under management agreements with farmers are generally grazed by productive breeds (non-lactating cows, young bulls or calves) but some use hardy breeds.

This paper presents briefly three cases — the restoration of moors and bogs on the Hautes-Fagnes plateau, fallow wet meadows and pastures in the Ardenne valleys and calcareous grasslands in the Fagne-Famenne region — and notes the problems encountered in grazing management.