In the Biodiversity Challenge, and agenda for conservation in the UK (1994), produced by a group of voluntary conservation organizations the targets for lowland dry calcareous grassland were stated as:-
- Develop and/or maintain appropriate management of the existing resource, and protect sites from damaging activities.
- Restore adjacent areas where possible, to create a buffer zone for the main site ar a mosaic of bare soil habitats, short-grazed and tall-sward pastures and scrub of various ages.
- Establish the true extent of the remaining resource as an essential first step to achieving these targets.
The total extent of unimproved grassland habitats in the UK is estimated to be less than 0.3 million ha (UK Action Plan) with only a proportion of this figure 'supporting its characteristic biodiversity'. In 1972, Dorset had only 2,268 ha of unimproved cha grassland left compared with 28,000 ha in 1811. Best estimates suggest that the total resource of lowland unimproved calcareous grassland is now less than 20,000 ha in the UK. Priority areas for action include:
- Salisbury Plain,
- Chiltern Scarp,
- the North and South Downs,
- Cotswold Scarp,
- the Mendips,
- the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Wolds,
- Anglesey and the Vale of Clwyd in Wales,
- Breckland (CG7b),
- the magnesian limestone grasslands in Durham (CG8),
- the Dorset Downs,
- the Isle of Wight,
- the Carboniferous limestones of Derbyshire,
- the Pembroke coast (CG1b)
The grasslands are under threat from changes in farming practice, particularly:
- abandonment of grazing on steep slopes which leads to encroachment by coarse grasses and scrub
- fertilising
- ploughing.
RDB vascular plants of lowland calcareous grasslands, such as Gentianella anglica, tend to be more characteristic of the short, grazed pastures provided by low-intensity sheep grazing, mixed livestock grazing or unmanaged rabbit grazing.
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