Limestone Country Project

For more detailed information about this project
please visit the Limestone Country Project website.

(Click on the link above or on the logo to the left to open website in new window.)

The Yorkshire Dales National Park contains two special landscapes which have been designated as internationally important Special Areas for Conservation for their outstanding limestone geology, unique habitats and exceptional plants and wildlife. Concentrated in the uplands around Ingleborough, Malham and Wharfedale this ‘Limestone Country’ is one of the nation’s most important limestone habitats.

The 300 million year old glacier scarred carboniferous limestone and the thin overlying soils in combination with a long history of mixed livestock grazing has resulted in a grassland habitat with a rich diversity of lime-loving grasses and wildflowers.

Over the last 50 years, however, a move to specialised sheep farming and a decline in cattle farming has lead to the growth of rank grasses and a loss of species and structural diversity.  

The Limestone Country Project aims to restore this diversity on over 1500 hectares of habitat by encouraging farmers to return to mixed farming using traditional breeds of cattle such as Blue Greys and Belted Galloways that can survive the harsh winters living off the rough grasses and do not graze so intensively as sheep.

This is a five year project with a £1.27 million budget, £550,000 of which is from the European Union LIFE (Nature) fund, which is specifically allocated to support the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directive. It is a partnership involving the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Natural England (formerly English Nature), National Trust, Grazing Animals Project, Rare Breeds Survival Trust, National Beef Association and landowners and the farming community.

By working in partnership with the area's farmers the Project will prove that the conservation of the natural environment and appropriate livestock farming can go hand in hand; providing a model for conservation based farming across the uplands of Britain.

In September 2005, the Limestone Country Project was recognised as the best nature conservation project in Europe by the Eurosite group - the largest network of organisations devoted to nature conservation management in Europe.

For more information about the project partners, visit their websites by clicking the links below:

• Natural England (opens in new window)
• National Trust (opens in new window)
• Grazing Animals Project (opens in new window)
• Rare Breeds Survival Trust (opens in new window)
• National Beef Association (opens in new window)