Save the Bog

The Brontë Society recently supported the initiative of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ) regarding Natural England's dealings with the Walshaw Moor Estate. The RSPB welcomes this support in Martin Harper's (RSPB's Conservation Director) blog:

I was delighted to receive support for our action from two separate sources.
First, the Brontë Society said,
"National and European environmental protection designations intended for the conservation of rare wild birds and their habitat – the blanket bog – include the Worth Valley watershed.  In this area the Brontë Society has, in accordance with its Heritage & Conservation Policy, sought to encourage the best standards of management regarding these precious moorlands.
This is a unique heritage landscape which is inextricably associated with the Brontës of Haworth, and particularly with the life and works of Emily Brontë.  Charlotte Brontë wrote of her sister that “her native hills.....were what she lived in, and by, as much as the wild birds, their tenants, or as the heather, their product”.  Any activity, undertaken for whatever purpose, which adversely affects this landscape and/or which may undermine the sustainability of the bird population, the habitats, the flora and fauna, must be strongly discouraged.
The concerns raised by the RSPB, involving as they do damage to the moorlands which inspired this country’s foremost literary family, must also be of serious concern to the Brontë Society."
Second, campaigners in Hebden Bridge added their voice to our complaint underlining the importance of good moorland management to the local community.  Dongria Kondh from the locally based BAN THE BURN campaign group said,
“Inappropriate moorland management does not just affect birds: people suffer too.   Hebden Bridge was very badly hit by flooding in June and July this year and in order to minimize the town's flood risk we need the upland catchment above the town to be managed so that large areas of degraded blanket bog are restored to a healthy state.  We need a good cover of sphagnum moss to act as a buffer in heavy rainfall events, slowing the rate of run-off from the moorland tops.
 The catchment's blanket bog degradation is due primarily to the activities of grouse-shooting estates. On Walshaw Moor, we have seen erosion from unconsented tracks, very extensive drainage, and aggressive burning on blanket bog.  The increased scale of this activity over the past few years may well have been a contributory factor to the severity of the floods in our town.”
Yes, our principle concerns relate to impacts on wildlife, but there are clearly impacts on people and our cultural heritage that need to be addressed.
I am grateful to those that offered support and encouragement for our action.