A NEW report has revealed that a project that repairs and maintains upland paths in the Lake District National Park is playing a vital role to conservation in the area. 

Fix the Fells, a multi-agency project, carries out work to address and prevent erosion caused by people using the fells for recreation.

The work, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) until June 2023, aims to protect and restore the World Heritage Site, with its internationally important landscape, habitats, species, history and culture. 

AMION Consulting Ltd have produced an evaluation report, as required by the ERDF grant funding, which concludes that Fix the Fells is having a significant positive impact on the experience of visitors to the fells through improvements to the visual landscape and to the quality of walks.

In 2022 Fix the Fells Rangers and Volunteers repaired erosion on over 3.8 miles of path. The work took place on 30 different paths all over the Lakes from Scafell Pike to Helvellyn, from Coniston to Keswick, and around Ullswater, Grasmere and Buttermere. 

Most of the erosion repair work is carried out by hand by highly skilled and dedicated National Trust Rangers who work high in the fells in all weathers.

Rangers in the north of the Lake District, for example, walked 765 miles in 2022 going to and from their remote work sites.

A large and essential part of the work on the paths is carried out by volunteers, who, the report says, make a vital contribution as well as receiving substantial personal, social and health benefits themselves. 

In 2022, 110 Fix the Fells Volunteers spent 2,597 days working in the fells, maintaining the paths and repairing erosion.

Fix the Fells Programme Manager Joanne Backshall said: “This report highlights the significant benefits of the work of the Fix the Fells Rangers and Volunteers. It illustrates the importance of their work to the natural beauty and economic vitality of the Lake District National Park.

“We hope we can continue this vital work when our current European grant funding ends in June this year. We are looking for additional funding to meet a significant looming shortfall.

“Without our work, the Lake District fells would quickly deteriorate to the scarred landscape of the 1980s and 90’s, when gullies more than 90 feet wide and 12 feet wide were clearly visible along rights of way across the fells. Increasing recreation, visitor numbers and severe weather events would soon take their toll and result in similar damage appearing.”

To make a donation to support this vital work looking after the Lake District’s precious natural environment, go to www.fixthefells.co.uk/donate/

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