What is the Northern Ireland Countryside Survey?
A. The Northern Ireland Countryside Survey (NICS) was initially set up to assess the distribution of land habitat types and land use in Northern Ireland. It is accomplished using the survey of a large number of quarter kilometre squares, and the extrapolation of the habitats found in these squares onto areas within similar climate, elevations as well as topography, vegetation, hydrology, settlement, geology and underlying soil. Changes in habitat are tracked using repeat surveys. NICS 2000 was the first repeat year and the results demonstrated large and significant changes in habitat types and land use pattern.
