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Home| About the author | Have your say | Links | Site Map Wildland in Britain - the new potential: A review of progress on achieving wilder landscapes 9th May 2005 University of Leeds NOTES FROM THE MEETING: Forty or so people came to the first public meeting of the Wildland Network, although their enthusiasm and immense knowledge made their number seem much greater. And by their affiliations and interests, this group showed that wildland is approached through all manner of directions whether it is through art, a responsibility for species and landscapes, or because of awe and inspiration. The morning session of speakers covered a broad spectrum of the practical reality of contemporary wildland. Sadly, the hoped-for launch of Peter Taylor's new book - Beyond Conservation: a wild land strategy - was thwarted by delays, but Peter's talk amply illustrated the contents of his book. It is eagerly awaited as it provides the primer for anyone who seeks the inspiration and motivation of Wildland Network members. He was joined by Derek Gow who gave a lusty review of wildland re-introductions in continental Europe, and the difficulties we seem to have in following that lead in the UK. Derek believes that if the initiative to reintroduce the beaver in Scotland falters, then there is no chance of us tackling the more charismatic re-introductions such as the lynx. Steve Carver and Simon Bates showed the results of their wildland mapping work using Geographical Information Systems, a tool that is both diagnostic but also an immensely powerful visual key that can begin to involve communities. Toby Aykroyd looked at the economic benefits that can be realised through wilding, showing that imaginative linking could combine the expected ecological benefits with social and enterprise programs. Rachel Yanick finished the session with a review of the Wild Ennerdale project where landowners have combined efforts to take a whole landscape approach. Ennerdale is going wild by degrees and its example is there for all of us to see. Questions to the speakers panel covered wind farms; herbivore grazing projects; over-management of land; and the measures needed to take this enthusiasm for wildland out into the mainstream. I went to the workshop on wild land values in the afternoon. Provided with an array of prompts and issues, we stripped out many of the irrelevancies that burden wild land. Sifting through words may seem subjective, but perhaps we all need to do that so that we become clear in our thinking. Putting together some of the words and issues that we selected gives this sentence: Wild land is intrinsically functional, and combines thrill and uncertainty through the characteristics of ecological processes, scale and deep time, and which provides opportunity for observation and personal development. Not quite the basis of a UK Wilderness Act, but one day that will need to be written. Getting back together after the workshops, it was patently obvious that we had all had a good day, reveling in the company of fellow enthusiasts for wild land. The sign-up sheets for supporting the development of the Wildland Network were well populated with names, and a program of future activities began to take shape. It was perhaps unsettling that a deflating note was introduced by staff from English Nature (EN) and the Countryside Agency (CA). Statutory agencies are always fair game at public meetings, but criticism had been muted during the day in genuine respect for their willingness to attend, and because one of the benefits of the Wildland Network is to give them space to eschew their organisational baggage. However, statutory agencies have difficulty coping with those not structured in their own image, and thus seek evidence of leadership and longevity. The impending absorption of EN and the CA into a new integrated land agency - Natural England - indicates their own uncertain future and thus it would be mutually beneficial for all to be supportive in this time of change. This unwelcome imperiousness has, nonetheless, promoted the urgency within the Wildland Network of securing funding for a co-ordinator and for defining its structure.
The proceedings from the meeting are posted on the Wildland Network
website Mark Fisher, 1 August 2005 www.self-willed-land.org.uk mark.fisher@self-willed-land.org.uk |
