Newton Rigg and Fix the Fells
Outdoor Education Students team up with Fix the Fells to develop countryside management skills.
10 Outdoor Education Students from Newton Rigg College at Penrith along with their tutor have agreed to join North lakes team for the next six Thursdays to complete a practical module of their course.
The Fix The Fells project has always been a partnership project with the list of partners growing steadily as the project developed, and here in the North lakes we have recently begun our latest partnership.
The main task for the students will be to lay a section of hedge at Rosthwaite in the Borrowdale Valley using traditional methods working alongside National Trust’s Fix the Fells team, Joe and James. The project began last week with an informal visit to the college to explain the aims of the project and give the team some background on hedgelaying and the importance of maintaining valley bottom infrastructures.
Paul Delaney National Trust ranger supervisor said,
“We’ve had similar groups before and tend to take them to the high fells where recreational damage is more obvious, this time we’re setting the students a less obvious challenge, we’re hoping that taking part in this project will show them the importance of all aspects of our work and how they impact on visitor numbers.”
Yesterday the project began in earnest with a site visit where the students carried out risk assessments and erected a temporary fence to protect livestock whilst hedgelaying is taking place.
(pictured) Fix the Fells Ranger James Squires explaining hedgelaying to students
We’re confident the students will complete the task over the coming weeks and the experience will give them a better understanding of countryside management and skills and how this relates to their course work, we look forward to seeing how they relate the task of hedgelaying in the valley bottoms to more obvious examples of recreational damage.
Newton Rigg College Tutor Mark Lawton,
“Working alongside the Fix the Fells team has helped the students to put something back into the local community, in particular the National Park where, being keen outdoor students, they spend a lot of their recreational time. Studying a National Diploma in Sport (Outdoor Adventure) the students are encouraged to look at the impacts that recreational activities have and look at ways of sustaining the environment for long term usage. The students are looking at a variety of careers within the outdoors and developing a practical knowledge and skills within countryside management techniques will certainly increase their employability and allow them to raise awareness of the role that organisations such as Fix the Fells play in maintaining the countryside.”