This section aims to look at the second principle objective of the project "˜To enhance visitors’ and local peoples’ experience of moorland heritage and encourage greater care’, and aims to address three specific needs:
- To promote moorland care with visitors and local people enabling them to contribute to reducing the risks of damage to moorland heritage from access and recreation
Remember – The Peak District became the First National Park in England in 1951 and currently recieves 22 million visitors a year – thats alot of footprints! When visiting our very special moorlands remember there are very fragile places, at high risk from fires and erosion that can have devatating impacts on native flora and fauna. - To enhance understanding of the special qualities of the moorlands through improved interpretation.
The partners have identified that even the most popular moorland routes have very little interpretation provision and have proposed that these routes are provided with new interpretation boards giving information on the landscape, history and wildlife of the locality - To develop easier access to the moorlands where possible and appropriate.
The two key areas identified here are improvements to both physical to the moorlans and access via public transport. Already changes have taken place with a new bus service being introduced from both Glossop and Sheffield with high moorland areas of the Peak DistrictSo, to conclude, the analysis of these needs, undertaken by the advisory partners, involved an examination of existing surveys and knowledgeable opinions on what visitors and local people thought about their visits to the moorlands. This indicated that a range of information and interpretation was lacking and this inhibited the understanding and experience people could gain of the moorlands heritage. It also identified the potential to make some access to the moorlands easier.