A £3.1 million grant from the Lottery will fund a new Peak moorland conservation and restoration project plus there's a new group aiming to conserve the area
Jackpot For New Conservation Project...
The Peak District National Park has scored a £3.1 million
Heritage Lottery Fund grant towards the costs of a £4.7 million
project of moorland restoration and awareness raising.
The rest of the money will come from the National Park Authority
and the Moors for the Future Partnership Project partners. The Park
Authority describes the five-year exercise as 'an ambitious programme
to restore moorland, promote a wider understanding of its importance
and create opportunities for access for all.'
Specifically, the project will restore some 300 hectares of
moorland damaged by fire, rebuild 19 km of eroded paths and find ways
of reducing the disruption to wildlife in sensitive sites. There will
also be a 'Moor Care' programme aimed at educating and involving
volunteers, local communities and the general public in upland
conservation and monitoring the state of the moors.
The visitor centre at Fieldhead, Edale will get a makeover and
become the 'Moors for the Future Centre'.
Plus the Peak gets new Friends
Meanwhile a new organisation 'Friends of the Peak District' has
sprung up. Launched at the Kinder Trespass Anniversary Celebration in
April, the Sheffield-based group aims to protect the area from the
pressures of industry, road builders, mobile phone companies and - we
quote - 'a farming system which puts production before
environment'.
Their two main current focus points are a campaign against
quarrying in the Park - hte most quarried national park in Britain -
and one encouraging people to buy local Peak Park produce.
It is, says their literature, 'an association of people who love
the Park and want their voices heard when its landscapes are
threatened'. All of which sounds great, but you should be aware that
the group is an offshoot of the CPRE (Council for the Protection of
Rural England) an organisation which boasts Max Hastings as its
president and has, in the past, campaigned against car boot sales in
rural areas.
Make your own mind up. The Friends of the Peak site is here
and the CPRE site here.
