Farmers and conservationists clash over ‘rewilding’ Lakes

ITS landscape has inspired writers down the ages and drawn thousands of visitors each year hoping to find solace amid the hillsides, crags and valleys.

But moves to protect the appearance of the Lake District have led to a bitter exchange between farmers and environmentalists.

The arguments intensified after the Lake District was designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco earlier this month, to protect the centuries-old landscape shaped by hill farming.

The move was condemned by some environmentalists, such as George Monbiot, who accused Unesco of trying to turn the area into “a 230,000-hectare Beatrix Potter-themed sheep museum”. The author of Feral said the move would reinforce the area’s appearance as a “sheep-wrecked wet desert”, and make it harder to reintroduce a greater diversity of plants and wildlife. He argued that current farming practice had damaged the eco-system, with grazing preventing the growth of new trees, and streams and rivers dredged to benefit farmers.

But the hill farmers have hit back, claiming this “rewilding” vision would leave the area covered in bracken, to the exclusion of everything else.

Tom Lorains, who farms a 17th-century holding in Newlands Valley, near Keswick, and who helped lobby for Unesco status, said: “We’re in a constant battle with extreme conservationists such as George Monbiot who want to turn the Lake District into a sea of trees and get rid of farming.”

He said cutting the number of sheep to allow more trees to grow would instead lead to the rapid spread of damaging bracken and a fall in biodiversity.

“Where sheep numbers on the fells have been reduced over the past 15 years, bracken has taken over and nothing can survive beneath it.

“You can see it choking the tree saplings that have been planted.”

As part of the designation, Unesco

‘Extreme conservationists want to turn the Lake District into a sea of trees and get rid of farming’

said it hoped the impact of tourism on the area would be monitored and conservation efforts increased.

“We hope that World Heritage Status will protect the Lake District and what is now the traditional hill farming landscape of the fells,” said Mr Lorains.

Under a Natural England scheme, hill farmers have been subsidised to cut their flocks so trees can be reintroduced to the fells.

While Mr Lorains backs replanting trees in some areas, he warned sheep numbers should not be cut further.

“Without farming, the area’s economy would suffer terribly. So much local employment depends on it, from casual farm labourers to contractors and feed merchants and all their money is spent locally,” he said.