Hello All, 

Welcome to this edition of CNPPA's newsletter.

In this issue we cover a wide range of topics to suit all appetites and interests, from our local activity investigating peatland restoration to international involvement in sustainable coastal recreation, plus newly published poetry! We also look forward to meeting people at the national ‘People's Charter’ event, run jointly with the Campaign for National Parks, as well as at our regular cultural landscapes talks regionally. If there are any protected landscape events you would like us to share with others please do get in touch.

All the best,
Lois Mansfield, Director of CNPPA

In this issue - Research, Practice and Events:

• Supporting Protected Area Management in Wales and Europe
• Coastrec Bid a Success
• New Poetry Commission
• Doctoral Researcher Surveys the Hidden Depths of Cumbria’s Peatlands
• Exploring the Potential for Space Technology in Peatland Surveying
• Paper at International Romanticism Conference
• Celebrating Cumbrian Farming Heritage at a Moment of Change 
• Monthly Cultural Landscapes talks – the 2022-23 series launches
• Free Webinar - A 21st Century ‘People’s Charter’ for Nature, Access & Landscape
• 'Moss of Many Layers' Project Open Day - 26th September 

Our Director, Professor Lois Mansfield, has had a busy summer as a Board member of the EUROPARC Atlantic Isles which is the Atlantic seaboard chapter of the EUROPARC Federation, the network representing responsible authorities of all pan-European protected areas. Lois joined the Sustainable Agriculture EUROPARC Commission tasked with devising tools to increase collaborative working between protected area managers and farmers. She has also been supporting the design of a new commission to produce guidance for monitoring the effectiveness of protected areas.

Lois thanks Tirweddau Cymru/Landscapes Wales for inviting her to address the partnership in June and speak about CNPPA. Attending the Alliance for Welsh Designated Landscapes/Cynghrair dros Dirluniau Dynodedig Cymru Annual General Meeting later this month, Lois looks forward to meeting representatives of many Welsh protected areas in person.

Image: Oslo Fjord. Image credit: Fonwall

The Norwegian Research Council has confirmed funding for Coastrec, an action research project led by the Telemark Research Institute, Norway. Commencing 2023, the project will explore coastal recreation policy formulation and implementation in the interplay between state, civil society and market.

The aim of the project is to contribute to a better understanding of the role and potential of voluntary organisations in promoting shifts towards sustainable coastal recreation. The research will support Norway’s first comprehensive Action Plan for the Oslo Fjord and shed light on challenges and possibilities of sustainability governance in the recreation domain.  

Professor Chris Loynes from our Human Nature Relations research theme is to be one of the experts. He comments:

‘This is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate internationally and to learn from the case study in ways that will also be transferable to UK coastal communities and environments’.

Earlier this year staff of our Cultural Landscapes theme area put out a call to poets from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to apply for a paid poetry commission. The commission forms part of a wider UK Research & Innovation funded project which explores the role of literature in inspiring and encouraging more diverse engagement with rural landscapes. Working in partnership with Rydal Mount, we were able to offer the successful candidate a residency at this historic house, thus providing the chosen writer with an opportunity for creative immersion in Wordsworth’s own landscapes.

The project and the commission contribute to the development of the Lake District as an evolving cultural landscape. While Wordsworth himself described the Lake District as “a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and an interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy”, recent public reviews and reports show that many groups feel disconnected from National Parks and other rural landscapes. Within this project we have been exploring the potential for literature to generate new ideas about these places and our relationship with them.

The new poetry produced as a result of this commission is now available to read here, first published on our CNPPA website.  You can listen to ITV news coverage of the residency here.

Image: Dr Penny Bradshaw and Dr Reshma Ruia at Rydal Mount.

Jack Brennand’s research centres upon evaluating peatland restoration using innovative techniques, working with Barker & Bland Ltd. 

Jack is currently sampling peat cores from contrasting sites in Cumbria. These will be analysed using 3D X-ray computer tomography at Manchester University.  The data will reveal pore networks and root structures within the peat which determine its carbon dynamics: the movement and capture of carbon in the peat. By exploring below the surface of peat in this new detail, Jack’s research may support the effectiveness of peatland restoration in future.

It was established to drive job creation and economic development via the expansion of the region’s Space economy, including opportunities in green technology; life sciences; energy; materials; digital technology; advanced manufacturing and astrophysics.

NW Space Cluster approached CNPPA regarding the potential of exploring different platforms and sensor technology for peatland surveying. We already have doctoral research underway into imaging techniques for peatland, more on this in a future newsletter.

CNPPA would like to hear from any organisation, group or individual who would be interested in exploring further, with NW Space Cluster, the challenge of peat quantification to resolve multiple issues including carbon auditing, natural capital accounting, biodiversity net gain, and peat monitoring for environmental land management schemes.

NW Space Cluster offer a regular newsletter  and LinkedIn group.

Over the summer CNPPA's Cultural Landscapes theme lead, Dr Penny Bradshaw, gave a conference paper at an international conference on British Romanticism and Europe. The conference was held in Switzerland and brought together scholars from around the world. 

In her paper, Dr Bradshaw developed her earlier research on Radcliffe’s tour of the Lake District, to consider at how Radcliffe’s reading of this place was shaped by an earlier encounter with continental Europe. Within the paper, Dr Bradshaw looked at the impact of Radcliffe’s journey through a war-torn Holland and Germany on her subsequent reading of the Lakes as a place of peace and liberty.

Images: Lambing at Amy Bateman’s farm near Kendal; peat-free compost making at Dalefoot Farm finding new markets and ways to resource the land. 

  © Amy Bateman, 2021 

CNPPA is delighted to co-sponsor a regional exhibition which documents Cumbrian farming at a time of great change. Forty Farms is an exhibition from British Life Photographer of the Year, Amy Bateman, at The Gallery, Rheged, Penrith from 16 September 2022 to 4 January 2023.

It offers a unique insight into the everyday lives, fears and hopes of 40 farmers through photography, film and words. The exhibition will have free entry and will be supported by a Forty Farms Festival of talks, debates, films and creative classes which will run from September-December.

This exhibition represents the Cumbrian landscape’s strong relationship between farming and nature, long sought after by the visiting public, at a time where differing perceptions and views exist as to how we move forward in balance together.

We are pleased to announce that we will be returning to in-person events at our Ambleside campus for this year’s series of Cultural Landscapes talks. 

The first event will take place on Monday 7th November at 6.30pm.  Our guest speaker is Fiona Edmonds, a Professor in Regional History at Lancaster University and Director of the Regional Heritage Centre. Professor Edmonds will be talking about her work on historic Cumbrian place-naming.  This will be a collaborative event, run jointly with our colleagues at The Armitt. Further details and tickets will be available in due course on The Armitt events page.   

Anyone wishing to join our mailing list for future Cultural Landscape events at the University of Cumbria should email Dr Penny Bradshaw at Penelope.bradshaw@cumbria.ac.uk.

Save the date to join us on 31 October 2022 at 4pm for a free webinar - A 21st Century ‘People’s Charter’ for Nature, Access & Landscape. 

This online panel debate, run in partnership with the Campaign for National Parks, will explore what new powers are required for our protected landscapes to enable us to address the overlapping crises of health, nature and climate. 
 
Booking details to follow. 

A celebratory event to share the work of the interdisciplinary Moss of Many Layers project will take place at Hethersgill, Cumbria. Come along if you can, and please share this invitation with your networks.

Further information and booking here. 

Funded by Natural Environment Research Council as part of the Arts-Based Public Engagement with Climate Change programme, and led by the PLACE Collective at CNPPA, in partnership with University of Cumbria and Natural England, Moss of Many Layers has been running for a year. It has brought together artists, scientists, conservationists, peat restoration specialists, young people and local residents in an exploration of the expansive bog, its history as a site of extensive peat extraction, its ongoing restoration and its role in nature recovery and future carbon sequestration.  

The afternoon event has two parts:  

• 1.30-4pm: Bolton Fell Moss: A guided walk on the new boardwalk, into the heart of this incredible place. 
• 4.30-7pm: Hethersgill Village Hall: Exhibition, film screening and a chance to talk to the team and local residents who’ve been involved in the project. 

Please note that places must be booked for the guided walk. The Village Hall event is open without booking.  

Find out more and to book via https://theplacecollective.org/wide-open-day/. 

Our Vision is to be a national and international centre of excellence for transdisciplinary study and research into national parks and protected areas, that addresses complex local and global challenges, and develops innovative practices to enhance landscapes and communities.

Our External Objectives are: 

· To grow our understanding of ecological, social and economic processes and change.

· To encourage dialogue within and between all communities.

· To create a safe space for addressing the contested issues.

· To provide an inspiring programme of lectures and conferences for all.

· To work in partnership with local communities to support knowledge sharing and transformative sustainable business practices that contribute to thriving communities, biodiversity and climate action.

· To use art and literature as catalysts for conversations, critical thinking, engagement and communication.

You can join our mailing list here.