‘[The Laked District is] desolate, and devoid of bird life. I think it is an environmental crime. We need to look at it as a wounded landscape. It has been changed over millennia by lots of different forces, and we are not letting it bounce back to the exciting wildlife-filled area it could be. Sheep moors or grouse-shooting estates are just like eucalyptus and cattle pastures.
‘They are analogous. There has been a huge amount of indoctrination over 100 years, convincing people that this is what landscape looks like.
‘But look at anywhere else in the world, this is a crime against nature. The National Trust has helped to rubber-stamp this vision as to how we should see the countryside.’
– Alexander Lees, Ecologist and Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University
Source: National Trust should be radical, says Hilary McGrady on BBC News