Every year, thousands of people work hard to maintain and conserve our national parks while looking after wildlife, visitors and local residents. The Park Protector Awards, run by the Campaign for National Parks, celebrates their work, discovers Laura Williams
A20-year-long project that cares for some of the most-walked paths in the Lake District; a group of friends helping people from the city experience national parks; and a one-man mission to rally mountain bikers to protect the Peak District received recognition as part of this year’s Park Protector Awards.
Organised by Campaign for National Parks (CNP), these awards recognise the incredible efforts of national parks champions in England and Wales – from the volunteers who help people navigate the parks to young apprentice rangers working to shape the landscape.
The Churchill Room in the Houses of Parliament was buzzing with the energy of a small army of park protectors. They were joined by MPs, Lords and the Speaker of the House, keen to hear more about the work that goes into protecting national parks in what was a brilliant in-person awards ceremony.
“We’ve witnessed some of the incredible work that goes into protecting and improving our national parks through these Park Protector Awards,” says CNP chief executive Rose O’Neill. “In celebrating this work in Parliament, we wanted to show MPs why we need new legislation, investment, policies to enable delivery at scale. The powers that were put in place to protect our national parks were put in place before the climate and biodiversity crises took hold – it’s no longer enough to just defend them,” adds O’Neill. “We need new laws to work much harder.”
MAIN PARK PROTECTOR AWARD FIX THE FELLS Sponsored by WWF UK
Fix the Fells is a team of around 175 people from all walks of life – including 135 volunteers – who braved every type of weather to put in thousands of hours last year monitoring, maintaining and repairing 400 miles of path in the Lake District National Park.
With almost 20 million visitors to the Lake District every year, walking paths get really eroded. Without the work of Fix the Fells, erosion would develop rapidly into huge scars, resulting in loss of vegetation, soil, stone, habitats, species and landscape beauty, as well as adversely affecting rivers, lak
