Abstract
AN interesting pamphlet has been issued by the Forestry Commissioners entitled “Afforestation in the Lake District” (London: H.M. Stationery Office, A, 1936). The pamphlet embodies the report by the Joint Informal Committee of the Forestry Commission and the Council for the Preservation of Rural England which was set up early in 1935. The Committee commenced its task with the recognition that large-scale afforestation and the preservation of areas of typical natural beauty are both necessary on national grounds, and that the land available for both purposes is limited. This does not entirely represent the actual position of affairs. For the public in some cases in the past have not only been against new afforestation work, but also have declaimed at old woods, such as are to be found in some of the enclosures in the New Forest, for example, being touched; in spite of the fact that it is evident that the old trees cannot last for ever. Towards the end of 1935, the Commissioners acquired an estate of 7,000 acres in the valley of the River Esk and the adjacent valley of Duddon, and prepared to plant. Objections were made by the public to the planting of conifers in the two valleys, especially in Upper Eskdale. It was agreed that some 440 acres of plantation land in Upper Eskdale should be omitted from the planting scheme, the Commissioners undertaking to pay special attention to amenity in afforesting the remainder of the plantable ground. The total area of the estate which will be ultimately planted is less than 2,000 acres of the 7,000 acres purchased. It has become evident that afforestation in the Lake District offers considerable difficulties, as a countryside can be completely changed by stretches of woods, and especially coniferous woods. With this object in view, the Joint Committee has recommended that a central block of some three hundred square miles in extent should be excluded from afforestation work.
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Afforestation in the Lake District. Nature 139, 144–145 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139144c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139144c0