(^36) an environmenTal hisTory of Wildlife in england
sense that they were both created and sustained by human activity. In some
cases diversity arose from use in one main way, without change, over long
periods of time – as for example with the grazing of chalk downland. But
more usually it was associated with repeated cycles of use, extending over
years or even decades, which endlessly reset the clock of succession, but at
different points on adjoining pieces of land – as with the coppicing and re-
growth of woodland, or the excavation and subsequent terrestrialization
of peat cuttings. Of particular importance is the fact that the countryside
was used not just to grow crops and graze livestock, but also to produce
raw materials, and above all fuel. It is hard to exaggerate the intensity with
which the landscape was exploited: almost every inch was used to produce
something useful. Yet this served, for the most part, to enhance biodiversity,
rather than to reduce it.
elle
(Elle)
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