Wild Land News no 53, Summer 2001

Capturing the Will O' the Wisp: Defining Wild land in Scotland Article

Fiona Anderson summarises Dr Aitken's AGM talk

Introducing Dr.Robert Aitken as our speaker, John Digney noted that in 19 years of the Wild Land Group's existence there had always been a strong, and usually unanimous, sense within the Steering Team of where a wild land issue was involved, but that we had never actually produced a specific definition of "wild land".

Dr Aitken said that the concept of wild land is largely a cultural construct of the last 200-300 years. Before then it was something to be feared and tamed, representing unknown lands beyond what was familiar and understood. Even in the present day and age attitudes towards untamed nature can be very variable. But with our current planning system we need to be clear what the main attributes and values of wild land are, in order to be able to press them at planning enquiries, to enable core areas which should remain sacrosanct to be defined, and even, on the ground, to decide how land should be managed - eg. should footpaths in Glencoe be improved or not? Any re-opened enquiry about the Shieldaig hydro-electric scheme will be likely to stand or fall on "wild land" grounds.

We are not talking about "wilderness" in the North American sense, as extensive landscapes untouched by man. In Britain we have only pockets, or remnants, of almost natural environments, which are very precious in terms of 3 attributes: nature conservation, landscape value and recreation. These 3 strands are often closely interwoven in the same area, and not only in remote country - Flotterstone in the Pentlands has often been described as having these characteristics.

Dr. Aitken went on to describe initiatives to define or protect wild areas abroad. Thirty years after the influential Wilderness Act, nature conservation is becoming more important than previously in the USA to protect large tracts as wildlife corridors. In Europe and Scandinavia wilderness protection is picking up, such as the targetting of Mt. Blanc to reduce the impact of tourism, by reducing the number of telepheriques, and the closing of mountain huts. In the UK W. H. Murray's seminal book "Highland Landscape" in 1962 made no mention of the term wilderness, but the areas he recommended went on to become National Scenic Areas with special planning controls (as intended). In Study Group 9 of the Countryside in 1970 Conference Professor Grieve and Tom Weir put in a plug for wild land values, which underpinned later Government reports, such as the criterion of 5 miles from a public road (which defined wild land areas in Northern Scotland only). Dr.Aitken's own thesis in 1977 defining wild land was based on Naismith's Rules for the time needed to walk mountainous or rough terrain. Steffen Fritz and other academics considerably refined the criteria in the late 1990s based on GIS computer algorithms which include intrusive man-made features such as masts, pylons and bulldozed tracks. Restricted access zones were defined for the first time in the Loch Lomond Subject Plan and finally, in 1999 a definition of wild land appeared in NPPG 14 Natural Heritage as "uninhabited and often relatively inaccessible countryside where the influence of human activity on the character and quality of the environment has been minimal".

Dr.Aitken developed his own thoughts on how things might develop in responding to comments from the floor. If the Shieldaig enquiry can be won on these grounds, it will establish wild land as an important planning principle. A widespread appreciation of wild land values is needed among users of the countryside as well as policy makers if other significantly damaging applications are to be opposed. But there seems to be little appeal in it to British politicians, as compared with the USA where the wilderness lobby has large political clout (thanks to John Muir.) Nature conservation is not less important than wild land value, but it is already well recognised in Britain. No one is currently protecting remoteness - new artefacts are constantly being introduced.

Improved access to the hills must be accepted for recreation, but footpath improvement in many areas, such as Glencoe, has perhaps gone far enough while "Munro-bagging" is having a serious impact on the ground in some places. Within 5 years of the SMC Guide recommending Ptarmigan as a route up Ben Lomond a major path had been worn. In fact Dr Aitken considered that new paths appear below newly identified Munros within 3 rnonths. Local solutions are needed to local problems, like the NTS "exclosures" in Glencoe and elsewhere, which can allow a footpath to recover within a few years - depending on how exposed it is. The Americans are heavily into indirect methods such as "impact education", rationing and displacement systems. They have stopped hardening paths, but much of their path networks are in forests where damage is less visible, and node points can be concealed. In Scotland our open terrain is easier to access from different directions.

The future may lie in continued acquisition by the public sector or voluntary groups like the John Muir Trust on behalf of the public. Countries with really effective systems like New Zealand have 70% Crown Land. However, no land comes without management costs. His final thoughts on definition were that areas with the attributes of contained sanctuaries often have the highest wild land values, such as Loch Avon, Loch Coruisk, the heart of Fisherfield Forest, or Flotterstone? As for criteria there is a danger of insisting there is only one way to define remoteness. But perhaps over 2 hours from a tarmac road would suffice to work with.