Britain’s National Parks May Be Endangered Species

As unsuspecting walkers cross a wooden bridge over a stream in one of Britain’s national parks, a counting meter hidden under a loose board quietly ticks away.

Farther on, a young man with a clipboard and questionnaire interrogates the hikers: Who are they? Why are they here? What do they plan to do up on the high moor peaks nearby?

Britain’s 10 national parks are in trouble, park officials say. The meter at the bridge and the questions are part of an attempt to monitor use of the parks so that park officials can raise awareness among the public and authorities of what could easily be lost.

The officials say that some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes could disappear because they lack the funds and the political clout needed to ensure their survival.

Densely Populated

Protecting such land is especially difficult because the 10 parks, covering 10% of England’s and Wales’ 58,000 square miles, are mostly private land and not government-owned.

When Britain set up its park system in the 1950s, it took its lead from the world’s first national park, Yellowstone. But unlike its American model, Britain did not have vast stretches of virgin land at its disposal.

England and Wales, the most densely populated of any major European countries after the Netherlands, were fully inhabited.

“We live on a very small and crowded island,” said Roland Smith, spokesman for the Peak National Park, Britain’s oldest and largest park. “It complicates things because our parks are made up entirely of living and lived-in landscapes.”

Interests Juggled

About 250,000 people live and work within the 10 parks, with 40,000 in the Peak National Park. The task of maintaining these areas can involve some tricky juggling of interests, Smith said.

Walkers use the parks for recreation. But local farmers, who look to the land for their livelihood, often resent the seasonal parade of hikers across their fields.

Local industries add to the problem by exercising age-old rights to extract minerals or work rock quarries. Even the army is involved, using the parks for 90% of its training.

Satisfying such divergent groups is no easy task.

‘A Bit Strange’

“It does seem a bit strange when people go to visit a park,” Smith said, “and they see signs saying: ‘You can’t go any further because you might get blown up’ or ‘Don’t pick up anything, it might explode.’ ”

Nevertheless, the parks are extremely popular. Walking--often called “rambling” here--is a favorite British pastime, with parks receiving 90 million visitors a year.

About 20 million go to the 542 square miles of the Peak National Park in northern England, making it the second most visited park in the world, after Japan’s Mt. Fuji.

The Peak District is the jewel of the park system. Situated between the big urban centers of Sheffield and Manchester, it forms a natural dividing point between the gentle rolling hills of the south and the barren, rocky landscape of the far north.

Beautiful and Bleak

On a spring day thousands of walkers pass through the small village of Edale to set off onto the Pennine Way, a 250-mile footpath to the Scottish border.

It is beautiful, bleak territory, with wind-swept peaks, heather and thick peat bogs. Huge boulders dominate the hill tops.

“This area is like a lung for those who live in the large industrial cities surrounding the area,” Smith said.

And defending their right to ramble is part of a proud British tradition, as any park official will tell you.

Public Access

The 5,000 miles of public footpaths, which allow anyone to cross private land, were born with the parks out of a working-class rebellion in the 1920s.

At that time, young unemployed people, with empty pockets and nowhere to go, looked to the moors for relief from the grim northern industrial cities. They claimed the right to roam their nation’s countryside, even if the land was private.

Their rallying cry, coined in a song of the times, proclaimed: “I may be a wage slave on Monday, but I’m a freeman on Sunday.”

Skirmishes often broke out between ramblers and hunters intent on reserving the heather moors for grouse shooting.

Mass Trespass

Events came to a head in 1932 when 600 people staged a mass trespass across private land. A battle broke out between police and walkers, with some ramblers being arrested and sentenced to up to six months in jail.

But in the 1940s the government passed legislation setting up the park system and designating public access land.

Park officials, intent upon preserving the hard-fought right of people to walk throughout the British countryside, now want the government to double its funding.