George Monbiot said the Lake District landscape has been 'sheepwrecked'

George Monbiot said the Lake District landscape has been 'sheepwrecked'

Lake District representatives hit back after a campaigning journalist described the area as one of the most depressing landscapes in Europe.

Environmental advocate George Monbiot said it vied for the title of worst kept countryside in an opinion piece on The Guardian website.

But national park bosses defended their bid to have the Lake District declared a Unesco world heritage site, saying area has always been at the forefront of environmental issues.

Their view was backed up by tourism and business representatives, who said the national park was a fantastic place to live and work, with a wide biodiversity.

Monbiot, a keen supporter ‘rewilding’ said: “The celebrated fells have been thoroughly sheepwrecked: the forests that once covered them have been reduced by the white plague to bare rock and bowling green.

“By eating the young trees that would otherwise have replaced their parents, the sheep wiped the hills clean.

Lakeland's naked fells: 'one of the most depressing landscapes in Europe'?

Lakeland's naked fells: 'one of the most depressing landscapes in Europe'?

“They keep them naked, mowing down every edible plant that raises its head, depriving animals of their habitats.”

He said the aims of conservation and supporting sheep-farming were conflicting goals.

“This conflict is not easy to resolve, but there should at least be some acknowledgement that two cherished assets – hill farming with hefted flocks, and a thriving ecosystem – are at odds,” the journalist added.

He lays the blame at the Grasmere doorstep of one of his literary heroes: William Wordsworth, for romanticising a bucolic vision of the Lake District.

But Richard Leafe, the national park authority’s chief executive, said the area had been a living, working landscape for more than a 1,000 years and sheep farming had helped achieve a world renowned landscape for nearly 15 million visitors a year.

He said: “It has inspired some of the country’s greatest artists and writers.

“As well as encouraging conservation thinking that has had global influence, it has led to the creation of our national park and the National Trust.

“The Lake District has always been able to deliver what people want from it, from Neolithic axes to lead and slate mines and more recently a place enjoyed and cherished for recreation by people everywhere.

Richard Leafe: 'Lake District sits alongside the world’s greatest sites'

Richard Leafe: 'Lake District sits alongside the world’s greatest sites'

“In all of this the importance of the hill farmer cannot be overestimated.”

He pointed to wide-ranging conservation, carried out with land managers to protect species such as red squirrel and osprey. Measures include improving water quality, managing flood prevention and storing carbon.

George Monbiot blamed sheep’s ‘sharp hooves [which] compact the soil, ensuring that rain flashes off, causing floods downstream’.

But Mr Leafe said: “All of what we do further enhances a national park which can happily sit alongside the world’s greatest sites.

“World heritage is the international badge of recognition, a global seal of approval and the Lake District should be up there.”

Richard Greenwood, Cumbria Tourism’s head of policy and performance said: “George is entitled to his opinions; however we fundamentally disagree with him.

“Far from being a wildlife desert, the Lake District is bursting at the seams with bio-diversity. There are wild uplands and mountains, river valleys, lakes and tarns, coastal marshes, rolling grasslands, dappled woodlands and forests.

“Cumbria has a varied landscape supporting a huge range of wildlife.

“Granted, it is a landscape shaped by man, but nature herself has played a significant part in the make-up of our beautiful county over the millennia.

“We strongly believe that the quality and variety of the landscape, which is home to a huge range of flora and fauna is the main reason why the Lake District should become a world heritage site.’’

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce chief executive Rob Johnston added: “Cumbria’s landscape is, and always has been, an active working landscape shaped by businesses and production activity.

“This is one of the things that make Cumbria so special.

“Over thousands of years Cumbrians have recognised the importance of our landscape and natural resources, so hand in hand with exploiting them have always sought to nurture and enhance them, making Cumbria what it is today: a fantastic place to live and work, and indeed to visit.”

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