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GeoLancashire - Promoting Geodiverity across LancashireWhat is GeoLancashire? Geological sites and landforms are protected in the same way as important biological sites. Nationally important locations are listed as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSls) while regionally there are RIGS (Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites) which in Lancashire are known as Geodiversity Heritage Sites (GHS). Lancashire RIGS Group was set up in 1991 but has recently adopted the more accessible name 'GeoLancashire'. The Group works particularly closely with Natural England, Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, The Environment Agency and United Utilities plc. Our work is co-ordinated with other RIGS groups regionally through the North West Geodiversity Partnership and nationally through The Association of UK RIGS Groups. Membership is welcomed from anyone interested in geoconservation and you do not need to be a trained geologist: we can use a wide variety of skills from typing to managing a database or helping to prepare educational materials. We meet regularly at the offices of Lancashire Wildlife Trust in Bamber Bridge, Preston. What do we do? There are three strands to our work: • Identifying, surveying and recording geological sites and landforms Over 850 sites have been investigated in the county and of these approximately 100 have been notified so far as GHS to local councils. Many of the above sites may qualify as being important at the district, rather than regional, level and we look forward to working with local councils in drawing up lists of such sites.
Latest NewsNERN - An Enviromental Record Centre for Lancashire - 23/01/2009 13:51:14Many counties have free-standing local record centres, mainly to co-ordinate storage and access to biological records. Lancashire has not had such a centre but a partnership of the county council with Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Wildlife Trust and GeoLancashire has been working for some time to rectify this situation. Now funding has been secured for two years which has allowed a network, rather than a physical record centre, to be established with seconded staff making the initial moves towards establishing a permanent service. The need for such a service has long existed but is even more necessary now with the introduction of Local Area Agreements and many Lancashire district councils adopting the stretch target, NI 197, which is concerned with the number of Local Sites (including GHS) under active management. The role of records is important here and a number of other aspects of local authority responsibilities so it is hoped that the work of the Natural Environment Record Network (NERN) will eventually be funded more widely by all those who stand to gain from its existence. Much work remains remains to be done at every level but at least co-ordinated record-keeping is a definite step forward. |
