Public Attitudes and Preferences for Upland Landscapes - Defra

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were considered to contribute to a ‘pastoral’ scene. Specific hedges or walls were of interest in terms of nesting birds or lichen on the stonework, but also (especially with stone walls) of a sense that people had created them. - Bogs and marshes were considered to be important for birdwatchers and as a place to trap water and prevent flooding. A few people valued peat bogs for wider environmental reasons (e.g. as carbon sinks) but the mainstream generally felt that they did not deliver many cultural services on a widespread basis. - Moorland was valued for its wildness and “bleakness” but moorland areas were not always thought to be beautiful places by the majority of respondents. Generally, the sense of openness was considered to be the most important aspect of such landscapes but heather, deer and rocky outcrops were features that contributed to the quality of the experience. Moorland was perceived to deliver quite an intense experience, and could be seen as “inspiring” or “spiritual”, but was less likely to be “calming” or “historical”. Moorlands were considered to be special landscapes that were perceived to be truly wild with little perceived management. Although not a physical feature of the upland landscape, the sense of community and the continuity of interaction between people and the environment over time was recorded as a highly valued feature of the uplands for a small sample of local residents from three North Pennines villages (Land Use Consultants and University of Sheffield (1998), referenced in Swannick et al. (2007). This contributed to a strong sense of identity and of links with the past. This finding supports the suggestion made by Swannick et al. (2007) that, landscape is an area of land consisting of the physical, natural, social and cultural dimensions of the environment and the interactions between them. Summary section 4 - The public value features such as historical man-made features, dry stone walls and irregularly shaped fields because they give a sense of people’s continued interaction with the landscape and give the landscape a ‘pastoral’ feel. - Moorland is particularly important for those living in it and contributes a sense of local identity. It is also considered to have intense experiential qualities being described as inspiring and spiritual. 5. Public understanding of the relationship between agriculture and upland landscape features Only one of the studies reviewed (SAC 2006) explicitly asked members of the public to consider the role of hill farming in delivering non-landscape services. This research looked at the public’s appreciation of existing upland features and their understanding of the relationship between agriculture and the landscape. In general, respondents understood that a decrease in grazing would lead to an increase in scrub land and other vegetation and these changes were not always viewed negatively. A survey designed to inform the focus groups in this study asked respondents to indicate their level of agreement with a number of statements about agriculture. The intention was to focus respondents’ attention on the role of agriculture and the potential policy trade-offs that could be made in managing the uplands. Overall, respondents agreed that a reduction in agriculture would mean that the landscape would become less attractive and that rural communities and rural economies would suffer. However, just under half of respondents agreed that the quality of lakes and rivers would improve or that conditions would become more favourable for wildlife and there seemed to be considerably more uncertainty over these two statements. The Research Box study found that in Exmoor, both positive and negative effects were expressed in relation to agriculture’s influence on the landscape. Several older participants noted that farmers were responsible for creating the landscape of Exmoor but there was wide agreement that some new agricultural enterprises brought changes, especially “elephant grass” 10
(for biomass energy) and extensive plastic sheeting, which were thought to be alien features in the Exmoor landscape (2006). Summary section 5 - Members of the public had some degree of understanding of the relationship between agriculture and the landscape but there was some uncertainty in the interactions between agriculture and the wider environment. 6. Preferences for upland landscapes and services 6.1. Overview of preferences from studies reviewed A number of the studies reviewed here specifically asked members of the public about their preferences in terms of upland landscape features and the results are summarised in Table 1, below. It is difficult to compare results as different studies asked respondents to consider different attributes of the uplands – with some considering landscape only and others including biodiversity, socio-cultural factors and land management. The variability is also likely to reflect sampling and the nature of the information given to respondents during the interview/ questionnaire process. Both broadleaved woodland and moorland were generally valued by members of the public; grassland is likely to be less favoured than woodland and moorland and, in studies considering whole landscape change, respondents favoured situations where grassland was marginally reduced or stayed the same (as opposed to situations where the proportion of grassland increased). Despite this, within one study considering the public’s preferences in the context of whole landscape change, nearly 50% of respondents favoured the existing landscape over other types of landscape. 11
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Page 3 and 4: 1. Introduction 1.1. Background The
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Page 7 and 8: landscape (e.g. food and production
Page 9: context for how we interpret the pu
Page 13 and 14: Black (2009) Rank† Landscape Biod
Page 15 and 16: Hanley et al. (1998) employed a Cho
Page 17 and 18: cover over the current landscape wh
Page 19 and 20: Table 3 Economic valuation studies
Page 21 and 22: Hanley et al. (1998) Hanley et al.
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Public Attitudes and Preferences for Upland Landscapes - Defra

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