Farming or Nature?

It really is a choice though the history of lobbying by special and vested interests has muddied the waters. Supposed compromises have led to certain assumptions being made. It's these that pollute those awful vision statements nobody reads except the managers. But they contrive to hamstring any attempt to have a fresh view.

From Sheffield Moors Partnership's draft Master Plan Key Issues:

"The latest employment figures show farming and land management to be significant, with the sector employing 3,500 people which comprises 18.5% of total employment in the National Park."

This is intended to justify farming the landscape and forestall attempts to get a fresh view of the moors as a natural landscape. That, of course, would not be good news for the land managers who worry for their jobs. Like so much else it's utterly disingenuous. Once again I think that these people are paid with public money to spin for self interest.

The National Park is not the Sheffield Moors nor vice versa. The moors are a part of it.  Burbage Moor, Houndkirk Moor,Big Moor, Blacka Moor do not employ people to any significant extent. In fact the main employment associated with them is conservation managers in offices writing reports and applications for grants. If there is the odd farmer involved he usually lives a long way off (Halfax in one case!!) delivers some sheep and then goes home!
Some parts of the Peak District National Park are overwhelmingly farmland and that explains the quoted figures. It is deceitful to imply that the moors are a vital part of the economy, apart from the conservation economy. But we know where this deceit comes from. As with Moors for the Future it is  about appeasing the shooting industry. The owners of private grouse moors want their exploitation to be part of the mainstream of what the National Park is all about so have worked hard to get themselves into key positions in the various boards and committees. Hence the constant cry that grouse shooting is a vital part of the economy. And because officers have had to accept that it transfers itself into this large area of public land:  "if it's moors it must be part of the economy". Self interest rules all.

What do we have to do to stop these people denying natural beauty in the landscape and promoting more and more years of totally uninspiring artificial land. This morning I went past a field of swedes. It was no more artificial than Houndkirk Moor.