Necula Alexandra Elena XI C

Britain's breathing spaces

The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic
landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.
Despite their similar name, national parks in England and Wales are quite different from national
parks in many other countries, which are usually owned and managed by the government as a
protected community resource, and which do not usually include permanent human communities. In
England and Wales, designation as a national park may include substantial settlements and human
land uses which are often integral parts of the landscape, and land within a national park remains
largely in private ownership.
Following the Environment Act 1995, each national park has been managed by its own national
park authority since April 1997. Previously, all but the Peak District and the Lake District were
gouverned by the local county councils. The Peak District and the Lake District, the first two national
parks to be designated, were under the control of Planning Boards that were independent of the local
county councils.
Each Authority is required to carry out two "statutory purposes":
to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area;
to promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the parks' special qualities
by the public.
Funding for national parks is complex, but the full cost of each Park Authority is funded from
central government funds.
Tourism is an important part of the economy of the regions which contain national parks. Through
attractions, shops and accommodation, visitors provide an income and a livelihood to local employers
and farmers. This income provides jobs for the park. For example, within the Peak District National
Park the estimate in 2004 for visitor spending is 185 million, which supports over 3,400 jobs,
representing 27% of total employment in the National Park.


Peak District - The central location of this park provides for the coincidence of the northern limit
of many lowland species, such as the stemless thistle, and the southern extent of many northern
upland species, such as the globe flower. The Carboniferous Limestone of the White Peak in its
southern and central areas, gives rise to peaks formed by harder reef limestone and dales rich in
wildlife gouged out by meltwater from the Ice Age. In the north, east and west is the Dark Peak where
the rocks are shale, sandstone and gritstone.


Lake District - England's largest National Park has a geology providing a dramatic record of
nearly 500 million years, with evidence of colliding continents, deep oceans, tropical seas, and
kilometre-thick ice sheets. The area has the largest and deepest lakes and highest peaks in England.
This landscape is overlaid by thousands of years of human activity and the habitats for wildlife to be
found in the park include mires, limestone pavement, upland heath, screes and arctic-alpine
communities, lakeshore wetlands, estuary, coastal heath and dunes.


Snowdonia - The largest National Park in Wales, boasts the highest mountain in England and
Wales, and Wales' largest natural lake. The area is steeped in culture and local history, where more
than 90% its population speak Welsh. Fossil shell fragments on the summit of Snowdon date from over
500 million years ago and the ancient Harlech Dome of which Snowdon and Cadair Idris form the
northern and southern extents respectively, was created in the Cambrian Period before the volcanoes
erupted. The more recent Ice Age glaciers were at their peak 18,000 years ago in Snowdonia and
formed the distinctive U-shaped valleys including Llanberis and Nant Gwynant in the north and Tal-y-
llyn Lake in the south.

Dartmoor - Dartmoor is the largest and wildest area of open country in the south of England.
Granite, intruded 295 million years ago underlies 65% of the park and is surrounded by sedimentary
rocks including limestones, shales and sandstones belonging to the Carboniferous and Devonian
periods. Almost half of the Park is moorland, and within it are four separate national nature reserves,
including the 366 hectare East Dartmoor Woods & Heath.

Pembrokeshire Coast - The only UK National Park recognised primarily for its coastline, it
covers almost all the Pembrokeshire Coast, every offshore island, the Daugleddau estuary and large
areas of the Preseli Hills and the Gwaun Valley. Regarded as one of the worlds best coastal
destinations, it is also an ecologically rich area recognised as of international importance for a wide
range of high quality habitats and rare species. Within the Park there are a total of 60 Geological
Conservation sites ranging from small roadside quarries and isolated crags on hilltops to many
kilometres of coastline.

North York Moors - Boasting archaeology dating from the end of the last Ice Age, the park
contains the largest Iron Age hill-fort in the North of England, Roman Forts, castles and abbeys,
moorland crosses and important early industrial sites. Its ancient and varied geology includes the
evidence left behind of ancient oceans, huge river deltas and great ice sheets. The evidence left behind
by these events has brought geologists to the area for over a century. The area is also famous for its
fossils, from ammonites to dinosaur footprints.


Yorkshire Dales - The park straddles the central Pennines, known as the backbone of England. At
the Millstone Grit-capped Three Peaks it rises to over 2,300 ft, contrasting with its deep cut valleys
(dales) from which it derives its name. In the south the park boasts limestone scenery, with its crags,
pavements and extensive cave systems, whilst in the north valleys with distinctive stepped profiles are
separated by extensive moorland plateaux. The park is noted for its glacial and post-glacial landforms
including the drumlin fields, Norber erratics, and the moraines and post-glacial lakes
of Semerwater and Malham Tarn.

Exmoor - The majority of Exmoor's rocks were formed during the Devonian period of geological
history between about 410 and 360 million years ago, the most prominent being old and new red
sandstones, Devonian slates, shales and limestone. The park rises to 519m at Dunkery Beacon and
boasts 55 km of coastline towards which flow a number of rivers. A number of settlements are found
within the Park including the much visited Lynton and Lynmouth.


Northumberland - With a population of around 2000 people this is the least populated of all the
National Parks in England and Wales. Rising to 815m at The Cheviot, the Park contains over 1100 km of
paths for walking, cycling and horse-riding. The park also contains a Ramsar Site (an international site
for the protection of birds) as well as 31 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, 6 Special Areas of
Conservation and 3 national nature reserves. The park's human heritage is no less impressive than its
natural diversity, with 259 listed buildings, 432 scheduled ancient monuments and 3,883 Historic
Environment Records.

Brecon Beacons - The park wholly encompasses Forest Fawr Geopark. Geologically there is
evidence of ancient seas, mountain building and sea level and climate change scattered across a
landscape that was shaped by the last Ice Age. The underlying geology is overlaid with Old Red
Sandstone peaks, open moorland, green valleys, hidden waterfalls and fern-filled gorges.

The Broads - Britain's largest nationally protected wetland, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads is
considered to be the eleventh member of the National Park family, but in fact was designated through
its own Act of Parliament in 1988 gaining similar status as a National Park. Its rivers, broads, marshes
and fens make this area rich in rare habitats, supporting myriad plants and animals. It is also one of
Europe's most popular inland waterways. There are six rivers (Bure, Ant, Thurne, Yare, Chet and
Waveney) and 63 broads within the Park, comprising over 125 miles (200 km) of navigable waterways.

New Forest - England's smallest National Park was designed as a hunting ground by William the
Conqueror almost 1000 years before it became a National Park. Originally the term 'forest' referred to
the designation as a hunting ground subject to forest law, not to a collection of trees and today less
than half the National Park is tree-covered (22,300 hectares). Amongst the 700 species of wildflower in
the forest grow the blue marsh gentian and the bog orchid and the park is the only place in Britain
where the wild gladiolus grows. The park also contains a wealth of human history with 214 scheduled
ancient monuments.


South Downs - The most recently designated National Park in the United Kingdom is a line of
hills that run from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east. The underlying geology of the
eastern half, from the River Arun to Eastbourne, is mainly hills made of Chalk. To the west of the Arun,
the area is wider and includes not only chalk hills but also part of the Weald made of sandstones and
clay. Amongst the key habitats overlaying this geology are chalk grassland, lowland heath and
floodplain grazing marsh. The park has the highest population of any National Park in the UK which at
107,929 is bigger than the next two largest combined. The park contains 600 Scheduled Monuments,
over 5000 Listed Buildings, 2 Registered Battlefields and 165 Conservation Areas.