Rural Communities and Landscape Change: A Case Study of Wild Ennerdale

Authors

  • Ian Convery University of Cumbria
  • Thomas Dutson University of Cumbria

Abstract

Ennerdale Valley is located in the Lake District National Park of northwest England. The valley has been managed as coniferous plantation forest since the 1920s by the Forestry Commission (FC). Since 2002, however, the FC has been a partner (along with the National Trust and United Utilities) in the Wild Ennerdale (WE) rewilding initiative, which alongside a more a naturally evolving landscape, also aims to provide socio-economic benefits for the local community. This paper considers the relationship between WE and the cultural landscape of Ennerdale Valley and has identified disparities between the WE view of engagement and participation and corresponding feelings of alienation, dispossession, and dislocation expressed by some members of the local community. The paper presents an argument for stronger links between WE and the Ennerdale community. In particular, there needs to be much greater appreciation of the role the rural community has played, and continue to play, in shaping the landscape of Ennerdale. Recognition of this role is important in terms of delivering a sustainable future both for the valley and for WE.

Author Biographies

Ian Convery, University of Cumbria

Ian is a Lecturer in Human Geography in the National School of Forestry, UCLAN. He has a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Management from the University of Northumbria, an MSc from the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University and a PhD in Politics & International Relations from Lancaster University. His doctoral work was linked an African Development Bank project to develop an integrated social forestry programme & ecotourism initiative for Sofala Province, central Mozambique. He is a highly experienced researcher, comfortable in both qualitative and quantitative research traditions, though he has worked mainly with ethnographic methods and participative methodologies. His main current teaching and research interests are related to community development, including the health and social consequences of the 2001 UK foot and mouth disease disaster, the 2005 Carlisle floods, social capital in the Cumbrian uplands, migration and ethnicity and community development research related to forests and protected areas. Ian's most recent research has been funded by LEADER+ and has looked at sense of place in Northern England. He has published widely on community development and has been a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society since 2002.

Thomas Dutson, University of Cumbria

Tom currently divides his time between teaching forest management planning and agroforestry and working as a consultant and researcher in the UK and overseas. From 2002 to 2004 Tom worked with the EC-funded Wang Watershed Management Project in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, facilitating the development of comprehensive guidelines for the multi-objective management of the country's forests. Tom is interested in many aspects of forest management including participatory planning approaches and the often complex interface between agriculture and forestry. Tom’s recent and ongoing research activity focuses on rural and community development – examples include projects that explore sense of place in northern England, community development opportunities linked to Wild Ennerdale and integration in the implementation of Rural Development Regulations in Cumbria.

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Published

2008-05-08

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2008)

Section

Case Studies

License

Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings.