Transcript Self-Willed Land - an expression of a future

- an expression of a future-natural state
for British landscapes
Mark Fisher
(formerly a real scientist)
www.self-willed-land.org.uk
[email protected]
bleak, empty, harsh, savage, barren, wasteland
What words are
commonly associated
in Britain with a
wilderness landscape?
Not bl*****
likely!!!!
Given the option, would
these wild animals choose to
live in a landscape described
by those words?
Mule deer, mountain
sheep, black bear – Jasper
National Park, Alberta,
Canada
So what really is a
wilderness landscape?
Survival
fat layer
Where’s this?
Garden of the Gods State Park
Colorado, USA
Brimham Rocks
North Yorks
Where’s this?
Walker Ranch State Park
California, USA
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Wales
Where’s this?
Triglav National Park
Slovenia
Peak District National Park
Derbyshire
Where’s this?
Parque Natural Sierra de las
Nievas, Andalucia, Spain
Rothiemurchis Forest
Speyside, Scotland
Where would you find these?
Cathedral Grove, MacMillan
Provincial Park, Vancouver
Island, British Columbia,
Canada
Ancient woodland
Grass Wood, Grassington
North Yorks
Where’s this?
Mount Rainier National Park
Washington, USA
The Strid, Bolton Abbey Estate
North Yorks
Where’s this?
Ute Trail, Rocky Mountain
National Park, Colorado, USA
Moughton Fell, Yorkshire Dales
National Park
What did all those landscape examples have in
common?
* Little evidence of human intervention, possibly in the
past, certainly in the present
* Outside the margins of productive/extracted land
* A richness of diverse vegetation suited to the edaphic
and climatic conditions
* Capacity to support a wide range of the animal
kingdom
* An intrinsic beauty (biophilia – Edward Wilson, 1984)
* A LARGE MEASURE OF SELF-DETERMINATION
To varying extent, they are self-willed land
How did I come to embrace self-willed land?
Permaculture – an earth science based on observation of
self-regulating natural systems
Permacuture Design – a developed system of design
principles and tools, underpinned by an ethical framework
A natural systems approach to designs for living
The spiral of intervention
Relative placement – the zones of land use
Do nothing
Remove
constraints
Biological
intervention
The spiral of
intervention
Least effort for maximum effect
Mechanical
intervention
Chemical
intervention
Zones of land use – how often and how much?
Human determination
and use
Zone 0
House
Wild nature’s
determination
Zone 1
Home garden
Zone 5
“Wilderness”
In Zone 5 people are:
Visitors only,
observing &
learning at the
feet of Mother
Nature
In Zone 1
people are:
Experts
and
teachers
Zone 2
Orchard
Zone 3/4
Agroforestry,
water storage,
timber & wood
“FUZZY” LANDSCAPES - Craven Limestone Complex
Grass wood
Bastow wood
Coniston Old Pasture
Zones - successional woodland, wood pasture and open pasture
Zone I - Special Preservation - Area of
special importance - may be no people access.
Zone II – Wilderness - Extensive area of a
good representation of a natural region.
Experience of remoteness and solitude.
Minimal human interference and no car access.
Zone III - Natural Environment - Managed
as a natural environment, with outdoor
recreation activities requiring minimal, “rustic”
services and facilities. Cars may be allowed.
Zone IV - Outdoor Recreation - Limited area
whose defining feature is direct access by car.
Zone V - Park Services - Communities in
existing national parks which contain a
concentration of visitor services and support
facilities. LAKE LOUISE – Banff National park
Zones I and II together
constitute the majority of the
area of all but the smallest
national parks.
Zoning in the National Parks of Canada –
Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba
Zoning inside a National Forest – wilderness areas
Great Gulf
Wilderness
Pemigewasset
Wilderness
“Zone 5”
National forest 800,000 acres
Wilderness areas 114,932 acres
14.4%
Caribou – Speckled
Mountain Wilderness
Presidential Range – Dry
River Wilderness
Methods of tree harvest in the nonwilderness areas mimic increasing levels
of natural disturbance. Regeneration is
natural after harvest
“Zone 4”
Sandwich Range
Wilderness
White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, USA
Zoning inside a European protected area – PAN Park Wilderness
PP Wilderness - a core area without extractive use of at least 10,000ha
Park Area (Park Limits)
38,138 ha IUCN Category II (national park)
Wilderness zone (Central Area)
14,215 ha – (37.3% of total area)
Gemenele Scientific Reserve
1,630 ha IUCN Category Ia (scientific reserve)
Retezat National Park, Southern Carpathians,
Romania
Guidelines for Protected Areas Management Categories – IUCN, 1994
CATEGORY
Protected area name
Area managed for
Strict Nature Reserve / Wilderness Area
Strict protection
II
National Park
Ecosystem conservation
and recreation
III
Natural Monument
Conservation of natural
features
IV
Habitat/Species Management Area
Conservation through active
management
V
Protected Landscape/Seascape
Landscape/seascape
conservation and recreation
VI
Managed Resource Protected Area
Sustainable use of natural
ecosystems
Ia&b
There is a gradation of human intervention from Category I to VI
Our National Nature Reserves are Category IV, our
national parks are Category V
Where is our land protected for values in Categories I to III
Can we CREATE it??
Our future-natural starts from here
Original-natural – existed before people became a
significant ecological factor;
Present-natural - would exist now if people had never
become a significant ecological factor. Different because
climate and soils may have changed in the last 5000 years.
Past-natural – present day woods whose components
have been inherited from the original-natural forests
(Ancient Woodland);
Potential-natural - a hypothetical state that could develop
instantly in the absence of influence from people;
Future-natural –
a state that will develop if
people’s influence is removed, and woodland regenerates
at its own pace (100-500 yrs). Not a re-creation of the
past, and subject to continuing extinction, introductions,
and changes in soil and climate.
How much land are we prepared to
gift to wild nature?
FROM: Natural Woodland: Ecology and
Conservation in Northern Temperate
Regions, George F. Peterken (1996)
Cambridge Uni. Press
“upland wilderness”
cf. English Nature interpretation
board
Ingleborough NNR
WORDS/DEFINITIONS
ARE IMPORTANT!!
(and so is
understanding)
See “What is Wildland?”
www.self-willed-land.org.uk/what_wildland.htm