The Lake District - will this ruin everything?

[PsychoSerenity]

Delete

[Brian Peacock]

There's much to be said for the 'conservation through neglect' approach rather than the 'maintain the past and charge others to look at it' ethos that gets all the attention.

[Scot Dutchy]

I really get the impression that they (?) are trying to manicure the area which is why so many areas elsewhere in the world are far more real.

[mistermack]

I really get the impression that they (?) are trying to manicure the area which is why so many areas elsewhere in the world are far more real.

Yeh.
What could be more real than land reclaimed from the sea by Dutch Dykes ?

[JimC]

I really get the impression that they (?) are trying to manicure the area which is why so many areas elsewhere in the world are far more real.

Yeh.
What could be more real than land reclaimed from the sea by Dutch Dykes ?

And they managed that with the added burden of little boys constantly sticking their fingers in...

[mistermack]

I really get the impression that they (?) are trying to manicure the area which is why so many areas elsewhere in the world are far more real.

Yeh.
What could be more real than land reclaimed from the sea by Dutch Dykes ?

And they managed that with the added burden of little boys constantly sticking their fingers in...

That's why they called it "hole land".

[mistermack]

Wordsworth and his sister started the fad for the lake district.
All most people know about him is that he wrote " I wandered lonely as a cloud " etc etc.

It later turned out that he actually wrote "I wandered lonely as a cow" and his sister told him to change it to cloud.

He still gets all the credit though.

This is a man's world.

[Brian Peacock]

... This is a man's world.

..but it wouldn't mean nothing... nothing... without a woman or a girl...

[rainbow]

They did nothing to prevent the Lake District, England’s largest and most spectacular national park, from being officially designated a Beatrix Potter-themed sheep museum.

Chortle

[JimC]

I'm sure Wales has a sheep museum.

Probably X-rated...

[Rum]

Here's George Monbiot's take on it:

The Lake District’s world heritage site status is a betrayal of the living world

Everything that has gone wrong with conservation is exemplified by this decision: the cowardice, the grovelling, the blandishments, the falsehoods. The way conservation groups rolled over is shameful, but also familiar. They did nothing to prevent the Lake District, England’s largest and most spectacular national park, from being officially designated a Beatrix Potter-themed sheep museum.

On Sunday, the UN agency Unesco granted the Lake District world heritage status. This, according to the report on which the decision was based, will correct an “imbalance” between “natural values” and “the cultural values of farming practices”.

The entire high fells have been reduced by sheep to a treeless waste of cropped turf whose monotony is relieved only by erosion gullies, exposed soil and bare rock. Almost all the bird, mammal and insect species you might expect to find in a national park are suppressed or absent, and 75% of wildlife sites are in an unfavourable condition. So you could be forgiven for thinking that the balance should be tilted back towards nature. Oh no: apparently it’s “the cultural values and benefits of the farming activities” that have been neglected.

While I haven't looked into the details of the report and I've never been to the Lake District, I have to say I very much agree that conservation is this country is appalling. It's like that with our moors here in Devon. The idea that the cultivated/farmed/grazed landscapes are what need to be preserved, at the expense of the wild natural growth. And it's not even as though there's a business case for it to be that way as it's all heavily subsidised anyway. Why can't we subsidise planting trees and letting forests grow?

He misses the point completely. The Lake District is a human made habitat/environment. Sheep farming is what has made it as it is today (or last century anyway) along with the remains of mining and slate production which were big industries in earlier centuries. It is the current look and feel that draws people to the place,. It doesn't pretend to be wilderness in any shape or form.

There is a lobby which calls for a big reduction in sheep farming, the planting of trees and 'restoration' to something like it would be if left to nature's devices, but it isn't a strong one.

[pErvinalia]

I'm sure Wales has a sheep museum.

Probably X-rated...

[Scot Dutchy]

He misses the point completely.

What surprises me that it was given heritage status. What heritage? Man's or nature's or the mess man has inflicted on nature.

The moors are the moors because of hundred of years of man's influence on the area. This is where conservation can go completely wrong. Just saying nature should just take over is not conservation it is just turning the clock back.

[pErvinalia]

He misses the point completely.

What surprises me that it was given heritage status. What heritage? Man's or nature's or the mess man has inflicted on nature.

The moors are the moors because of hundred of years of man's influence on the area. This is where conservation can go completely wrong. Just saying nature should just take over is not conservation it is just turning the clock back.

Heritage is heritage. Whether it's cultural or natural heritage is a different question.

[Scot Dutchy]

But which is it then and what does it hope to achieve?