Vote for a great cause: Fix the Fells
Outdoor headlines
07 March 2011 14:46
LFTOers will soon have the chance to pick their favourite conservation project from a selection of four worthy contenders. The winner will receive a cash award from the European Outdoor Conservation Association - a group of businesses in the European outdoor industry that have come together to raise funds for conservation and promote care and respect for wild places. Voting will open early next week at www.lfto.com/conservation, but in the meantime we’ll be introducing you to the organizations that want to win your vote. Here’s our final project from Fix the Fells...
Fix the Fells
Who are we?
The fells and habitats of the Lake District are fragile and although erosion is a natural process, path erosion is a different matter that leads to ugly scars, damaged ecosystems and a degraded landscape.
Since 2002 Fix the Fells and its skilled path repair teams with the help of volunteers have been employing both traditional and cutting edge techniques to maintain and repair upland footpaths and support and promote upland access across the region.
Fix the Fells is a partnership project involving the Lake District National Park, the National Trust, Natural England, Friends of the Lake District and Nurture Lakeland.
What we propose to do
Funding will allow vital work to begin on two of England’s most iconic mountain routes; Striding Edge to Helvellyn’s summit and Scafell Pike, England’s highest peak.Both attract hundreds of thousands of walkers every year and there is an urgent need to safeguard their delicate high plateau ecologies and continue work already started to ensure that these stunning walks continue to provide safe and beautiful routes for walkers.
Work on Scafell Pike will stabilise the delicate landscape, realign the pathway away from the watercourse and repair erosion scars.
The proposed work on Helvellyn - England’s third highest peak - will protect vegetation and rare arctic alpine plants of its high mountain plateau. The rare alpine plant the ‘mouse-ear’ has now disappeared altogether from the area. In Red Tarn, the lake below the ridge, the white Schelly fish face a bleak future as loose soil is spilling down from the eroded ridge and clogging spawning grounds.
The funding will also fund the training and support of 40 volunteers and 15 lengthsmen delivering 1000 volunteer days of path repairs, maintenance and management in 2011.
Why LFTOers should vote for us
An estimated 8.3 million people visit the Lake District each year with the majority coming for the fell-walking, mountain biking, climbing and other outdoor recreational opportunities. The popularity of the area combined with an increasing frequency of heavy rainfall is leading to a rise in the levels of erosion damage in upland regions.
The Fix the Fells project has already ‘fixed’ more than 170 upland paths and provides a crucial role in protecting the landscape, wildlife and upland access. It’s a scheme supported by the heritage Lottery Fund meaning that any funding received is match funded turning every £1 of funding received into £3.
www.fixthefells.co.uk