What it the Issue?
Many areas in National Parks are often referred to as “honey pot sites”. This is defined as “an attractive place where, because of its popularity, environmental damage many be caused by excessive use”.
Langdale Valley is so popular that footpath erosion is caused by all of the people walking around the area. Erosion is when pieces of rock are broken down and moved. This is a massive problem in Langdale Valley because it is a “honey pot site” and many visitors come here to enjoy the natural beauty of the landscape. They walk around the site and this causes more and more erosion and paths are worn away. Even more erosion occurs when tourists stray from the eroded path because they don’t like the feel or the uneven terrain of the set paths. When they do this, they trample down the grass and cause even greater scaring to the landscape. This is called “braiding”. These factors have all contributed to the Langdale Valley losing some of its outstanding natural beauty.
What am I going to find out?
When I went to the Langdale Valley I found out the differences between a managed footpath and a non-managed footpath. I looked at many different factors concerning the footpaths, like their appearance, depth and width. I found out how the footpaths were eroded and how many different factors have contributed to this over time. I looked into what the best way of repairing these footpaths would be. I was also discussing the best methods of repair for the footpaths. Also, I was discovering the views of three groups of people:
- a tourist walking the path
- a farmer who uses the land
- a conservationist or a Park Ranger
I would think that all these people would have quite different views about the footpath erosion because they all want the land for different uses and reasons. However, I would imagine that none of the groups like the fact that footpath erosion takes place.
How did I go about the task?
When we got to the Langdale Valley we conducted an experiment to find out more about footpath erosion. When we came to the footpaths, we put a tent peg on each side of the path and tied a piece of string from one to the other. They we recorded a mark every 10cm along the string and measured to the ground. Also, every 10cm along the string we put a 10cm x 10cm grid down and looked at the percentage scaring of the landscape. We did this on both the eroded path and the repaired one.
Whilst I am there I will record the angle of the slope of the path north to south and east to west using an angle measurer (it was 10 degrees west to east and -8 degrees north to south. I will record the weather conditions that we do our experiment in.
