The conflicts and management issues in Kinder Scout in the Peak District National Park

Heather survives in acidic, nutrient poor soils and produces acidic leaf litter. Soil acidity reduces availability of nutrients for other plants. Few soil animals can live beneath the organic materials produced by heather and no earthworms can survive. This means that decomposition of organic matter is slow, leading to layers of acidic peat on the surface. Heather is semi-natural vegetation and is assisted in its survival by human influences such as grazing and burning. This allows it to regenerate rapidly with little competition from other plants. If it is left without management for more that 15 years, it degenerates, plants become woody and branches fall outward. Without management, the area would revert to scrub and, at lower altitudes, oak woodland would establish.

Kinder Scout lies between Manchester and Sheffield and suffers severe atmospheric pollution. Sphagnum moss and other bog plants cannot tolerate high levels of SO2 or oxides of nitrogen. These are brought to moorlands as acid rain. Pollution levels are too high for the moss to re-establish itself.

The number of sheep on Kinder and Beaklow increased from 17,000 in 1914 to 60,000 in 1970 when the government introduced subsidies paid to farmers based on the number of sheep kept. Lack of fences and shepherding have led to sheep just wandering around, many of these sheep being breeding ewes which are selective in their grazing, choosing heather and bilberry rather than other species. This has increased the spread of moorland grasses at the expense of other, more valuable shrubs. The 30% loss of heather in the Peak District last century could be attributed to overgrazing by sheep. Grazing has led to extensive areas of bare ground. Loss of food and cover has led to a decline in bird species.

About 10,000 people annually walk the length of the Pennine way. More than 150,000 visit Kinder Scout. This exceeds the capacity of most roads/paths in the Kinder area. Between the 1970s and mid 1980s, the average width of bare peat on the Pennine Way increased from 1.45 to 3.53m. Plants such as cotton grass, mosses, bilberry and heather are easily damaged by trampling. Walkers avoid waterlogged areas of path and so destroy other vegetation. This happens on Kinder Scout all year round giving vegetation no time to recover.

Heather moorland fires are beneficial, removing old strands of heather and returning nutrients to the soil. Accidental fires in the summer however can have devastating effects, burning dry peat deeper and so killing dormant seeds, etc. Most fires are started by tourists. Sixty per cent start on or near a footpath or road and most are started at weekends.

The National Trust bought Kinder Scout in 1982. The main objectives of their management plan were:

* to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the area;

* to halt, if possible, the moorland erosion;

* to continue to provide access for the public whilst acknowledging the fragility of the area.

They have attempted to achieve these objectives by sheep grazing controls, ie 2000 sheep limit, fencing and walls, revegetation by the spreading of seeds, reducing acidity of soil and adding nutrients with lime spreading. The building of dams and planting of cotton grass and turf laying also helps peat to establish.

There has been much footpath repair, embedding rocks to create hard wearing paths, floating paths in badly drained areas involving the laying of matting and covering it with boulders, gritstone and flagstones to provide paths across waterlogged peat. In 1999, 1000 tonnes of flagstones were used to repair 25km of footpath.

Trained wardens in certain areas work with fire stations to devise plans and develop fire warning systems and better education for the public, for example information leaflets.