Fix The Fells Goes Prime Time!
Published on 8 April 2009
Countryfile the BBC’s long running Countryside TV programme has moved to a prime time Sunday evening slot and the first programme featured a report on the Lake District and Fix the Fells.
Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury headed to the Lake District in Cumbria, to celebrate a landmark in the history of our countryside. Its 60 years since national parks were enshrined in law, protecting the landscape and opening up the countryside for everyone to enjoy.
Whilst this access to beautiful landscape has enriched people’s lives, it has come at a cost! With millions of visitors coming to the Lake District and Cumbria each year and with most of them going for a walk, hundreds of footpaths are suffering from potentially devastating erosion. The damage is caused by a combination of grass, soil and peat being trampled by thousands of feet and then worn away by rain, wind and ice.
The Fix the Fells project is a collaboration between the Lake District National Park the National Trust and Natural England; with support from Tourism & Conservation Partnership, Friends of the Lake District, Heritage Lottery Fund, the Ramblers Association and the public. This ground breaking project has revived traditional pitching practices and developed new ones. The Fix the Fells officers are now asked for their expert advice by other countries on how to tackle similar problems.
Presenter Matt Baker tried his hand at stone pitching with the Langdale National Trust footpath team in Stickle Ghyll, learning how the Fix the Fells teams repair damaged footpaths and the lengths they go to to make them blend into the fabulous Cumbrian landscape.
Matt also got to see how helicopters are used to lift the stone used in the repairs to the remote locations the teams often find themselves in. On this week alone the helicopter moved over 600 tons of stone, despite the poor flying weather.
Richard Fox, Fix the Fells officer for the Lake District National Park, explains “paths get eroded by people walking on the edges of the footpaths, thus widening the paths, which in places has created paths over 20 metres across. These scars on the landscape can be seen from many miles away, and were very obvious from the helicopter.”
This erosion of the footpaths has also resulted in thousands of tons of soil being washed into the lakes, which is now threatening already rare species of fish such as the Vendace, which is only found in Cumbria, and is pushing them towards extinction in England.
The Fix the Fells teams hope that by using traditional practices, such as stone pitching, and modern equipment like helicopters, that they will be able to preserve the Cumbrian landscape and its fragile ecosystem for future generations to enjoy!
News archive
Check out the links on the left for other stories about Fix the Fells.
