management planning for nature conservation || language and audience

31M. Alexander, Management Planning for Nature Conservation: A Theoretical Basis & Practical Guide, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5116-3_3, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Abstract Management plans should be made available to everyone who has an interest in the site. This will include people who do not have a scienti fi c or technical background and may not necessarily have any interest in, or understanding of, wild-life or conservation management. Management plans are about communicating with a sometimes very wide and diverse audience. This suggests that the language used in the plan should, whenever possible, be plain and accessible to all. However, the use of plain language must not be taken as an excuse to be patronising or to diminish the value of the contents. It is also possible, though perhaps not essential, to share with others the values, feelings and enthusiasm that we have for the sites that we manage.

3.1 Audience

Whenever possible, management plans should be made available to the widest pos-sible audience. Occasionally, there will be a need to include sensitive or con fi dential information, for example, the location of rare and endangered species. Clearly, this should be omitted from a public version of a plan. Everyone who has an interest of any kind in the site, particularly neighbours, local residents and all other stakehold-ers, should be able to access information which is of interest or relevant to them. Regrettably, this rarely happens and, even when plans are made available to the public, the style of presentation and the language used in the documents can be impenetrable.

Chapter 3 Language and Audience

32 3 Language and Audience

3.2 Language

Communication – various de fi nitions:

A connection allowing access between persons. – The process of exchanging information and ideas – The transmission of information so that the recipient understands what the sender –intends.

In 2005, I prepared a paper for the annual Welsh Conservation Management Conference. In preparing my paper I interviewed senior representatives of all the major conservation organisations, government and non-governmental, in Wales. One of the most startling observations was that although the interviewees used the same words they often de fi ned even common words or expressions differently. Recently, I asked a group of conservation managers attending a training course if they carried out monitoring on their sites. Most raised their hands. We then dis-cussed and de fi ned monitoring, and I repeated the question. There was no show of hands. Lack of common de fi nitions can lead to confusion, misunderstanding and an inability to share a common purpose. The problems of communication between conservation professionals fade into insigni fi cance when compared with the prob-lems of communication between professionals and others. Usually, professional language is quite inappropriate for general consumption. Most professionals use language that is heavily dependent on abbreviations, acronyms and technical expressions. The following example, taken from the medical profession, illustrates the problem.

Medical language:

Lansoprazole is effective in the treatment of NSAID associated GUs and DUs and Zollinger – Ellison syndrome and in the eradication of helicobacter pylori. Side effects including LFT alteration, gynaecomastia, petechiae and RF have been reported. Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis and erythematous or bullous rashes including erythema multiforme have been reported occasionally. Take 30 mg cap o.d.

In lay terms:

Lansoprazole is a drug which is very useful in the treatment of ulcers in the stomach and fi rst part of the intestine. Side effects include changes to liver function, breast formation (in men), skin rashes and kidney failure. There are a few very rare but serious other skin conditions. Take one capsule once a day. (Rivett 2005 )

The meaning is the same in both versions. This is a clear demonstration that it is possible to use plain language and yet maintain meaning and scienti fi c integrity.

The Susie Fisher Group ( 2004 ) was contracted to explore the public understand-ing of nature reserves in Wales. A small number of local groups were established across the country, and the members of each group were carefully selected in order

333.3 Sharing Enthusiasm

to ensure a representative cross-section of the local population. The groups discussed a range of terms, ideas and concepts, without any guidance from the con-sultants. This is a sample of the responses given when the groups were asked to de fi ne ‘biodiversity’:

What does biodiversity mean?

The hares and rabbits. You see, if there are lots of hares, the rabbits start dying –off. If the hares start dying off there is no food and then it is a total circle. The environment – The insides of animals – Washing powder – Biology – It’s the interaction of nature with agriculture – You get a lot of biodiversity in a habitat where there’s a lot of species –

Biodiversity has become such an important word in our vocabulary that we might assume it is widely understood. It is hardly possible to open a newspaper or watch television without some reference to biodiversity. If we do not even share a de fi nition of a word like biodiversity with the general public, then consider how unfathomable most of our language must be.

If management plans are recognised as a means of communicating our inten-tions, sometimes to a very wide audience, the use of plain language is essential. Occasionally, there may be circumstances where a plan is prepared entirely by experts for use by experts, but this is rare. Conservation management and planning should be an inclusive activity, and providing stakeholders with access to manage-ment plans is possibly one of the best ways of encouraging their involvement. Plans must never be written in a patronising style, but they should not contain dif fi cult or obscure scienti fi c language. For example, scienti fi c species names should be accom-panied by a common name whenever possible. Where a common name is widely understood the scienti fi c name may not be necessary. It is, however, important that the quality of the information conveyed in the plan is not diminished as a conse-quence of using plain language.


Taking the way in which we communicate a little further, we can improve things by communicating with genuine feeling. If we believe so strongly in the importance of wildlife then perhaps we should also be prepared to share our enthusiasm with others.

Emotion is the source of all becoming-consciousness. There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion. (Jung 1968 )

Feelings and emotions are the source of our ideas, inspiration and creativity. (Naess 2002 )


Most people involved in nature conservation, and consequently most people who write management plans, will share a love of the natural environment. We take it so much for granted that we often forget to speak about it, and this silence can become inhibiting. It is not always easy to break through these hidden barriers and talk about feelings when the scienti fi c realities are so much safer and easier to quantify. Perhaps sometimes we hide behind the anonymity of scienti fi c jargon because we have no words for our own emotions. At work, we rarely talk about feelings or emotions, and yet, for most people, the reason for their choice of vocation in nature conserva-tion was a deep emotional response to an experience sometime in their lives. Some are motivated by a positive experience and others as a consequence of witnessing disaster or destruction. We disguise our emotions in an attempt to present the illu-sion of dispassionate objectivity. Clearly, there are times and places when this is important, but, equally, there are times when we need to share our feelings. If no one breaks the silence we will become trapped by conformity. A wide range of in fl uences, particularly peer pressure, encourage us to conform, but simply because ideas of behaviour have become widely accepted it does not mean that there are no better alternatives.

There are several areas in a management plan, none more important than the objectives, which would bene fi t enormously if the text could also convey some of the values and feelings we have for the very special places that we manage. Through sharing our values with others we might inspire them and help them to gain a deeper appreciation of what we are trying to achieve.

The following examples of visions (the descriptive component of the objective) are intended to inform and, hopefully, to enthuse the reader :

3.3.1 Visions for an Upland Oak Woodland (Fig. 3.1 )

The following examples of visions both contain the same factual information, but the messages that they convey are very different.

Vision for an Upland Oak Wood – Simple Version

The entire site is covered by a high forest, broadleaf woodland. The woodland is naturally regenerating, with plenty of seedlings and saplings particularly in the can-opy gaps. There is a changing or dynamic pattern of canopy gaps created naturally by wind throw or as trees die.

The woodland has a canopy and shrub layer that includes locally native trees of all ages, with an abundance of standing and fallen dead wood to provide habitat for invertebrates, fungi and other woodland species. The fi eld and ground layers are a patchwork of the characteristic vegetation communities developed in response to local soil conditions. These include areas dominated by heather, or bilberry, or a mixture of the two, areas dominated by tussocks of wavy hair grass or purple moor


grass, and others dominated by brown bent grass and sweet vernal grass with abun-dant bluebells. There are quite heavily grazed areas of more grassy vegetation. Steep rock faces and boulder sides are covered with mosses, liverworts and fi lmy ferns.

The lichen fl ora varies naturally depending on the chemical properties of the rocks and tree trunks within the woodland. Trees with lungwort and associated spe-cies are fairly common, especially on the well-lit woodland margins.

The woodland does not contain any rhododendron or any other invasive alien species with the exception of occasional beech and sycamore. There is periodic light grazing by sheep and very occasionally by cattle. This helps to maintain the ground and fi eld layer vegetation but does not prevent tree regeneration.

Vision for an Upland Oak Wood – Inspirational Version

In spring, sunlight sifts through the pale, translucent green of the newly emerged leaves sketching bright patterns between the trees. The upland broadleaved wood-land covers the entire site. It has a mixture of trees differing in age, size and density, a variety that is maintained by natural processes. Scattered through it is a patchwork of temporary glades that are slowly fi lled by naturally regenerating tree seedlings and saplings. At the same time, new openings are created, forming a gradually changing mosaic of light and shade, where as much as a quarter of the woodland may be open glades, rides and other canopy gaps. At certain times of the year, sheep may occasionally wander among the trees and glades as they graze. With so much diversity, a whole web of life, from plants and mammals to birds and insects, is woven through the woodland.

Most of the trees and shrubs are locally native broadleaved species such as sessile or hybrid oak, downy or pendulous birch, ash, rowan, holly, elm and hazel. These, together with occasional non-native species such as beech and sycamore, create pat-terns of dappled green as the mix of trees changes throughout the woodland. The monotonous, deep green of rhododendron, which has invaded some of the surround-ing countryside, does not encroach into the woodland. For life in the woodland to fl ourish, there must be a balance between decay and new growth; dead and dying trees, as well as live trees with holes, hollows and rotten branches, provide the nec-essary habitat for a rich variety of mosses, liverworts and fungi, and also for specia-lised insect species.

The fi eld and ground layers make a brilliant tapestry of colours and textures. Some areas are bright with the vibrant greens and muted purples of heather and bilberry. In others there are soft tussocks of wavy hair grass or purple moor grass. There are also swathes covered mainly by brown bent grass and sweet vernal grass, with occasional drifts of pale indigo bluebells in spring. The dense under-growth helps to maintain the humidity beneath the canopy, which is essential to the survival of many mosses and liverworts. In rocky areas, or where the soil is thin and acidic, these form deep, green carpets. The mix of lichens in all their bright and subtle shades varies throughout the woodland, depending on the rocks and trees that support them. Particularly around the fringes of the wood, where


sunlight seeps through, the tree bark is draped with rippled, silver-green clumps of lungwort.

Birdsong resonates through the wood during the breeding season, and there is a faint rustle of leaves where birds such as pied fl ycatchers, redstart and wood warblers fl it between the branches. As the light fades, bats dart silently through the canopy, barely more than shadows in the twilight, and badgers emerge to forage in the growing darkness.

Fig. 3.1 An upland oak wood

3.3.2 Vision for the Condition of a Blanket Bog (Fig. 3.2 )

This is a slightly different approach. It describes the feature from the perspective of the experience that a visitor will enjoy on the site:

From a high vantage point, the blanket bog extends as far as your eye can see. At a fi rst glance the bog looks a uniform greenish-brown colour, but a second glance shows a rich mix of reds, browns, greens, yellows and in early summer, the nodding white heads of cotton-grass.

Walk over the blanket bog and you will be aware of the wide range of plants that thrive here. The bog plants grow on a deep layer of waterlogged peat, often several metres thick and made up of the partly decomposed remains of previous bog plants. The surface of the bog is made up of a mixture of small, moss- fi lled hollows and


slightly drier hummocks where heathers grow. You will discover an occasional small bog-pool.

The tallest plants, standing at about knee-height, are cross-leaved heather, which grows in the wetter areas, common heather and cotton-grass. You will also fi nd bilberry, crowberry, cranberry, deer grass, and purple moor-grass.

Sphagnum bog mosses grow below these taller plants. These spongy, water-holding mosses form a low, almost constant and colourful carpet in a variety of greens and reds. Look carefully and you may also see insect-eating sundews and on some of the drier hummocks the fragrant yellow bog asphodel.

The larvae of the large heath butter fl y feed on the fl ower heads of cotton grass and so you may be lucky enough to see some of these rare butter fl ies on sunny days in early summer.

Occasionally, birds such as hen harrier, merlin and peregrine falcon give spec-tacular displays as they fl y above the blanket bog and surrounding wet heath and acid grassland, which form part of their feeding and nesting areas.

Fig. 3.2 A small blanket bog

3.3.3 Visions for a Species – Guillemots

Two examples of visions for a population of guillemots; both contain the same fac-tual information, but the messages that they convey are very different.


Vision for Guillemots – Simple Version

Skomer Island is a very important breeding site for a large, robust and resilient population of guillemots (Fig. 3.3 ). The size of the population is stable or increasing (in 2011 the population was 21,688).

The distribution of the colonies, shown on the attached map, is maintained or increasing.

At least 80% of the breeding adults survive from 1 year to the next, and at least 70% of the breeding pairs raise a chick each year. This will help to ensure the long-term survival of the population.

The safe nesting sites and secure breeding environment are protected. There are no ground predators and the impact of predatory birds is insigni fi cant. The size and range of the population are not restricted or threatened, directly or indirectly, by any human activity on the island. The nesting colonies are not disturbed from the sea by boats or other human activities during the breeding season.

Vision for Guillemots – Inspirational Version

The sight and sound of a guillemot colony provides a truly spectacular encounter with seabirds: shimmering clouds of birds skim beneath the cliffs and the constant clamour of their exuberant cries saturates the air. Skomer Island is a secure haven for large numbers of breeding guillemots, allowing the strong and resilient popula-tion to thrive. These upright, penguin-like birds, with stark brown and white colour-ing, lay their eggs on the bare rock ledges of the cliffs. On land they and their chicks are vulnerable, but there are no ground predators on the island to threaten them, and airborne predators have little impact. Though visitors can enjoy wonderful views of the guillemots, the birds are not disturbed by people using the island for any reason, and there is no adverse effect on their numbers, distribution or breeding success. The same is true of the surrounding sea, where no boating or other maritime activi-ties disrupt the lives of the birds at or around the colonies.

In 2011, 21,688 guillemots bred on Skomer, and this number remains constant or may increase. The accompanying map shows how the birds are distributed around the island. In some areas there are only small clusters of guillemots, but in the larg-est colonies close-packed birds smother the ledges, and the cliffs echo with their deep, resonant calls. None of these colonies is diminishing, and they may continue to grow in size or number. At least 80% of the breeding adults survive from 1 year to the next, and over 70% of breeding pairs raise a chick each year, helping to safe-guard the future of these magni fi cent birds. With so many successfully breeding birds the colonies are alive with activity. When the eggs are hatched, the air hums with the sound of rapid wing beats as birds return to the cliffs with the silver glint of fi sh just visible in their beaks. At fl edging time the urgent cheeping of chicks adds to the cacophony of noise as the near- fl ightless youngsters tumble from the cliffs to fi nd the parent birds in the water below.

There are many circumstances where this type of language will not be appropriate. One of the more important principles of planning is, ‘small is beautiful’. Our obligation


should be to produce fully functional plans at the least possible cost in time and other resources. Plans should also be as concise as possible. However, having made these points, if a plan is intended for a wide public audience inspirational language may be necessary. There is no reason why we should not produce different versions of a plan providing, of course, that the meanings are entirely consistent. There may be the need for a functional version, which adopts a minimalist approach where the language is precise and uncluttered.

Fig. 3.3 Guillemot


References

Jung, C. G. (1968). Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 9, Part 1 , 2nd ed. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.

Naess, A. (2002). Life’s Philosophy: Reason and Feelings in a Deeper World . The University of Georgia Press, Athens and London.

Rivett, A. (2005). Personal communication. The Susie Fisher Group (2004). Nature reserves and the natural history concepts which underpin

them . Unpublished report, Countryside Council for Wales, Bangor.

management planning for nature conservation || language and audience

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