SSSI Improvements - Chobham Common

Description

The project proposes three interventions to enhance the SSSI Chobham Common heathland habitat; • Wildfire resilience woodland work – enhancement of 37.96 hectares of SSSI through pruning existing woodland trees to prevent fire spread through woodland understories and prevent fire spreading up into the tree canopy and removal of fallen deadwood to reduce fire risk. • Site wide grazing system – facilitate grazing across 84ha of the southern half of Chobham Common. Increased grazing would create better quality heathland habitat and reduce wildfire risk from a reduction in vegetation caused by grazing animals and subsequent reduced risk to the road network. • Natural Flood Management – conduct a feasibility study into restoring the hydrological function on the site using paleo-ecology to increase site resilience to flooding and wildfire.