presentation: wildness in the cairngorms national park...• developments in europe • mapping...
TRANSCRIPT
Wildness in the Cairngorms National Park
Steve Carver
Wildland Research Institute
Outline• Background: What is wild land and why it’s important
• Can we map it?
• Developments in Europe
• Mapping wildness in the Cairngorms National Park
• Further work
The importance of wild land
• Majority of Scottish population (91%) think that it is important to have wild places (SNH, 2007)
• Significant aspect of Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage:– Wildlife and nature– Tourism and economy– Identity and culture– Ecosystem goods and services– Intrinsic value
• Needs sustainable management and protection
Wild land definition
• To protect wild land and its value we need to know where it is, so we need...– A clear and common definition:
• Acceptable to all
• Rigorous and defensible
• Spatially explicit
– Distinguish between biophysical and perceived wildness
– A robust and repeatable mapping methodology
What is wild land?• “Uninhabited and often relatively inaccessible countryside where the influence
of human activity on the character and quality of the environment has been minimal.” NPPG14 (1998)
• “There are parts of Scotland where the wild character of the landscape, its related recreational value and potential for nature are such that these areas should be safe guarded against inappropriate development or land-use change.” SNH (2002)
"Wild land in Scotland is relatively remote and inaccessible, not noticeably affected by contemporary human activity, and offers high-quality opportunities to escape from the pressures of everyday living and to find physical and spiritual refreshment.“ National Trust for Scotland (2002)http://www.nts.org.uk/conserve/downloads/wild_land_policy_2002.pdf
Attributes Main Criteria
Perceived naturalness Functioning natural habitats
Unmodified catchment systems
Lack of constructions or other artefacts No recent buildings/works
Little impact from large structures outside area
Little evidence of contemporary land uses Little effects from older remains
Only extensive grazing and field sports
Rugged or otherwise challenging terrain Striking topographic features and difficult terrain
Natural settings for recreation providing hard physical exercise and challenge
Remoteness and inaccessibility Distance from settlement and communications
Limited access either by scale of area and/or lack of easy access
Extent of area Area sufficient to engender feeling of remoteness and solitude
(After SNH, July 2002) http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/polstat/pd-wsc.pdf
Mapping wildness• Attributes of wildness
– Naturalness
– Remoteness
– Aesthetics and challenge
...a GIS based approach• Map all relevant attributes in GIS• Use cartographic modelling
techniques to:– Overlay map layers– Weight layers according to level of
importance– Generate output map using Multi-
criteria evaluation (MCE) methods– Explore zoning scenarios for park
management
European developments
• European Parliament resolution on wilderness:– Defining and mapping wilderness– Studying wilderness benefits– Developing an EU strategy for wilderness and promoting new
wilderness areas– Amending Birds and Habitats Directives so that wilderness
zones are given special status and stricter protection in the Natura 2000 network
– Getting Member States to set wilderness conservation as a priority in their strategy to address climate change
Mapping wildness in the Cairngorms
Wildness model
Perceived naturalness of land cover
Absence of modern human artefacts
Viewshed Explorer tool
Remoteness from mechanised access
Remoteness from mechanised access
Rugged and challenging terrain
Final wildness map #1
Final wildness map #2
Developing wild land zones
1a 1b 2a 2b Other
European mapping
National mapping
Scotland wide
Local studies
• Southern extension to Cairngorms NP
– Wildness mapping
– Zone development
• Loch Lomond and the Trossachs NP
– Wildness mapping
Any questions?
Dr Steve Carver, Director, Wildland Research InstituteEmail: [email protected], URL: http://www.wildlandresearch.org