Ralph writes ‘This toon is from the Framing Nature Toolkit to be launched on the 28th of March. You can buy a hard copy or download it for free here.‘.
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3 Replies to “Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill”
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Standing up for Nature
Ralph writes ‘This toon is from the Framing Nature Toolkit to be launched on the 28th of March. You can buy a hard copy or download it for free here.‘.
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People do love banning things, don’t they (and that includes conservationists) ? Bristol Parks have a fine record – 18 months ago they came up with 20 things they were going to ban or limit – including BBQs only on BBQ sites. Except there weren’t any. As an absolute principle, in the FC forests we never banned anything unless there was no alternative. Our main tool was voluntary separation – we largely cracked mountain biking which apparently is one of the biggest conflict points in North America by providing trails designed by real mountain bikers and as a result became the ‘home’ of mountain biking in Great Britain – resulting, is suspect, in huge support during the sales fiasco. When instant BBQs started burning picnic tables most people banned them. We fitted a BBQ size metal plate to the tables.
There’s a huge message here for conservation – the answer to a lot of the access problems is diversion, not banning – we need the 250,000 hectares of green space close to where people live recommended by the Natural Capital Committee and ignored, it seems, by almost everyone. Is it just too big for our constrained view of the future ? The one thing that stands in the way our own attitudes and rules – the outdated assumption that farming always comes first and the Byzantine mesh of planning which labour have rightly pointed out has turned into a get rich quick scheme.
Roderick
Just wondering if you have any experience of problematical photographers? Particularly how did you deal with photographers harassing adders, that is to say catching them, chilling them down & then repositioning so that ‘perfect’ shot was obtained?
Dear Nimby,
I’ve come across most things in the forest over 30 years, but that is a new one for me !
More generally, though, my experience is that it’s the people most interested in the wildlife who cause it most problems – worst, of course eggers and illegal persecution – but also birders & wildlife photographers – I’ve done it myself – how far is the right distance to keep back trying to get a photo of a Pied Flycatcher at a nestbox at Nagshead in the Dean ? There’s no doubt that I and other birders pose a bigger threat than someone going by on a cycle trail.