Conference on Adventure and Environmental Awareness

The landmark two-day Conference on “Adventure and Environmental Awareness” was held at Brockhole, the Lake District National Park Centre, in March 1984. The aims of the conference were:

1		To increase the knowledge and understanding of Lake District environments.
2		To consider the impact of adventure activities on the environments of the Lake District.
3		To show the range of conservation and environmental interests which have potential to broaden the base of adventure activities.

Michael Taylor, the National Park Officer, opened the conference by saying that problems seem to arise when people take a very narrow view of their own activity.

Colin Mortlock, the Conference chairman, said that it was an historic weekend because of the diversity and interests of those in attendance- naturalists, environmentalists, planners, educationalists, adventurers and commercial users. All shared a common bond of love for the natural outdoors. He described the rapid growth in adventure activities and called for greater responsibility and a change in attitudes towards nature.

The well-known climber, Chris Bonington, gave a keynote address in which he gave a personal view of living and climbing in the Lake District. He suggested it was all about users of the environment coming to a reasonable, commonsense level of compromise, finding their own level of mental and physical expression but at the same time respecting the environment.

John Nash, a planner with the Lake District National Park Authority, put recreational pressure into perspective mentioning the threats from agricultural methods, commercial afforestation and acid rain. He described local issues such as footpath erosion, gardening of crags, damage to gills and trespass and called for greater awareness and understanding from group leaders. He said the key was “Freedom with Responsibility”.

John Wyatt, Head Ranger for the LDNPA, traced the history of the National Park back to the writings of Wordsworth. He argued that “Adventure” and “Awareness” should go hand in hand. He criticised the “instant adventure” business and called for leaders to show greater awareness and respect for the environment.

Chris Loynes, a development trainer, described his approach to Adventure Education and said he used outdoor activities to help young people find responsibility in themselves. He outlined a case study of a group scrambling up a gill, the different approaches adopted by leaders and the affect on young people’s attitudes and development.

There was a choice from nine site visits and each group reported back to the conference on what they had seen and with their recommendations for leaders on the use of the sites with groups.

On the second day there was a series of talks from wilderness in other countries to exploring local environments. This included presentations giving in-depth views of the Lake District gills, lichens, peregrines and aquatic environments. The conference then divided into 5 site-specific groups- Fells, Crags, Gills, Rivers and Lakes- and was asked to draw up recommendations for their use and management.

In the plenary session the conference accepted some general recommendations encouraging outdoor leaders to work in harmony with nature, increase their awareness through contact with conservation bodies, and minimise their impact on the environment. In his Closing Remarks, Colin Mortlock stated that the solution to problems lay in education in its broadest sense and efficient communication at all levels. Conflict and legislation could be avoided by people working together and accepting the concept of “Freedom with Responsibility”. A conference report was produced but is no longer available.

The conference led to the formation of the Adventure and Environmental Awareness Group in 1984.