Habitat Feature Assessment of East Dartmoor SSSI

Descriptions

East Dartmoor SSSI contains the largest area of heather moorland remaining on Dartmoor. The submontane acidic dwarf shrub heath concerned is associated with acidic grassland and valley mires. The requirement of this contract is to: 1) collect data on designated habitat features blanket bog and valley bog, wet heath and sub-alpine dwarf shrub heath across all units of East Dartmoor SSSI; 2) provide a supporting unit commentary to inform feature condition assessments for each unit; 3) record pressures affecting the SSSI features; and 4) capture vegetation data to assess winter grazing pressure. This data will give Natural England an understanding of designated habitat feature condition across the area of SSSI assessed, as well as an understanding of variation in condition within the SSSI and management pressures which may be influencing condition. The results will be used by Natural England to undertake a Common Standards (CSM) assessment of the condition of the features of the SSSI and an assessment of impacts of winter grazing.