Lake District High Fells

Lake District High Fells is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in Cumbria, England, which was designated in 2005. It is a multi-site SAC with an area of 27003.07 ha consisting of 10 separate sites including the summit of Scafell Pike, which at 977 m (3,206 ft) is the highest mountain in England. The SAC takes its name from the English Lake District and "Fell" , the local word for a mountain. It protects 16 habitat types listed in the European Union's Habitats Directive.

Lake District High Fells
Wasdale Screes, one of the fells included in the SAC
Area27003 ha

As is usual with SACs in England, the protected areas are also covered by Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designations. The ten component sites are as follows:

Management issues

Much of the land is used as pasture. At the time the SAC was designated, the view was expressed that sheep grazing had had by far the biggest man-made impact on the condition of almost all of the features in the SAC. Less than 1% of the SAC is woodland. The scarcity of trees is partly explained by the fact that some of the SAC lies above the tree line (in the Lake District the climatic tree line is estimated to lie at about 535 m.). However, the natural climax vegetation would in many places be woodland. In the context of the habitats of scientific interest, a problem of "inappropriate grazing" has been identified.[1] One of the SSSIs underpinning the SAC where there is woodland is in Ennerdale, which is the home of a rewilding project.

The SAC is within the Lake District National Park which has a duty to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area. Since the SAC was designated, the significance of the National Park as a cultural landscape has been endorsed by UNESCO, which gave the Lake District World Heritage Site status in 2017.[2] However, the sheep farming tradition is not without its critics. The environmentalist George Monbiot has described the High Fells as a "sheep museum".[3]

In 2018 it was revealed in answer to a parliamentary question that English Nature had failed to inspect a number of SSSIs, including Scafell Pike, within the required six-year timescale. Budget cuts were blamed.[4]

References
  1. "Grazing Theme Plan".
  2. "The English Lake District". UNESCO. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  3. Monbiot, George (2017). "The Lake District´s World Heritage Site status is a betrayal of the living world". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  4. "Nearly half of England's 'most important wildlife sites' at risk after not being monitored for years". Retrieved 8 September 2018.

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