News articles

The Brock & Calder Landscape Recovery Project, which is due to enter delivery phase in the new financial year, is reaching final stages of negotiations and planning. The project includes c. 900ha of peatland restoration works, which we hope to support the delivery of in the first five years of the twenty-year project. We are currently working with the delivery team and Defra in order to finalise the monitoring plan for the project, as it presents a rare opportunity to fund peatland monitoring over a long period of time (funding cycles are currently year to year). 

Our negotiations with United Utilities, mentioned in the June JAC update, have been successful and the peatland team at the National Landscape has, as of 1^st September this year, expanded from one to seven (up to the end of March 2030). We are currently supporting United Utilities with a large-scale survey project across the county (linked to dissolved organic carbon reaching drinking water treatment centres), and the team is aiming to survey c. 4500ha between September and the end of March 2026. The new team members are Nathan Thomas, Emily East, Jake Phillips, Valerie Robichaud, Bingzhang He and Matt Radcliffe. Whilst all bring previous peatland experience to the National Landscape team, they also have a range of wider specialisms including invertebrates, birds, scientific monitoring, botany (with a specific focus on mosses and lichens) and mountain leadership. 

Beyond this financial year, we will be supporting United Utilities on three other peatland projects between now and the end of March 2030. In addition, we will continue to work with any and all other stakeholders who wish to engage with us on peatland restoration survey, planning and delivery. We anticipate another year of the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme (or similar) to be open for applications soon – this scheme has been the main funder of restoration in Bowland over the past five years. 

Work is progressing on the development of the Forest of Bowland National Landscape Regenerative Tourism Plan, which will provide a strategic framework for supporting a visitor economy that delivers positive outcomes for the landscape, local communities, businesses and visitors. The plan is being developed to move beyond traditional sustainable tourism approaches, focusing on how tourism can actively contribute to the environmental, social and economic wellbeing of Bowland.

The plan is bringing together evidence, stakeholder feedback and best practice to identify opportunities for tourism to support nature recovery, strengthen local distinctiveness, encourage responsible visitor behaviour and increase the benefits that tourism generates for local communities and businesses. It will establish a shared vision for regenerative tourism across the National Landscape and outline practical actions that partners can deliver over the coming years.

As part of the engagement process, a business event is planned for 5 November, providing an opportunity for tourism and hospitality businesses to contribute directly to the development of the plan. The event will introduce the principles of regenerative tourism, present emerging findings from the project and facilitate discussions around the opportunities and challenges facing the visitor economy within Bowland.

The workshop will seek to gather local knowledge and business perspectives to help shape the final plan, ensuring that proposed actions are practical, relevant and aligned with the needs of those operating within the area. It will also provide a valuable networking opportunity, encouraging collaboration between businesses and highlighting how a regenerative approach can enhance both visitor experiences and the long-term resilience of the local economy.

Following the November event, feedback from participants will be incorporated into plan for wider consultation with partners in 2027.

The Forest of Bowland National Landscape is working with illustrator Carla Gebhard to develop a distinctive illustrated visitor map that celebrates Bowland as a place of discovery, curiosity and connection. The project aims to create a high-quality, engaging map that encourages both residents and visitors to explore beyond the area's best-known destinations and develop a deeper understanding of the landscape, its wildlife, heritage, communities and stories.

Alongside its role as a visitor resource, the map will also act as a commemorative souvenir marking the passage of the Tour de France through Bowland in 2027.  To ensure the map has a long-term legacy beyond the Tour, cycling-specific digital content will be developed separately and can be removed in future editions if required.

The finished product will be an A2 illustrated map folded to A5, with content on both sides. It will function both as a practical guide for exploration and as an attractive keepsake that visitors will want to retain and revisit. 

Current work with Carla is focused on developing the map concept, identifying key stories, locations and themes to feature, and establishing an illustrative style that captures the distinctive character and sense of place of the Forest of Bowland National Landscape. The project will support wider objectives around regenerative tourism by encouraging exploration across the whole area, promoting lesser-known locations, and strengthening connections between visitors, local communities and the landscape itself.
The new map will be launched in spring 2027.
For further information contact: hetty.byrne@lancashire.gov.uk 

1. A live agreement with the Ribble Rivers Trust to enable delivery of elements of the 'Hodder Together for Salmon project'.

This project has been developed over 3 years and involves a combination of capital habitat mitigation works to counteract the physical modifications and land-use stresses to the river.

Under the Wildlife Rich Habitat criteria, the project is for wildlife-rich habitat creation via restoration to achieve "Good ecological status" of the river. Across the project this has to address all elements of river naturalness physical, hydrological, chemical and biological.

In channel interventions include the installation of flow deflectors and berms which help to; increase the diversity of channel habitat and flow, improve water quality downstream by reducing fine sediment transport and increase the availability of suitable substrate for salmonid spawning through the addition of gravel.
Riverside interventions including using watercourse fencing and tree planting/riparian buffers and the associated drinking infrastructure for livestock are also included in the project to reduce the input of pollutants as well as creating wooded habitats and all the associated benefits.

2.  A live agreement with the Abbeystead Estate at Moorbottom for the restoration of priority peatland habitats, and enhancement for waders.

This is a 1-year project where the aim is to restore priority habitats purple moor grass and rush pasture and mire; as well as enhance the site for waders. Changes to the hydrology (through drainage), historic nutrient/chemical additions and intensive grazing have led to the habitat no longer exhibiting the required level of natural functioning and consequently no longer supports the typical flora and fauna expected. The aim is to restore much of the site to a more species-rich habitat, a small remnant of which still exists (photograph below shows the remnant habitat with purple moor-grass, rushes, sedges and a well-developed sphagnum carpet).

Works will include drainage blocking, fencing to allow for the much-needed conservation grazing which will be required to help restore these habitats and rush management through the creation of scrapes for waders which will also enhance an important area for breeding waders.

3. Application in development with United Utilities for priority habitat woodland creation

The aim of this project will be to replace a number of species-poor conifer plantation blocks near Stock's Reservoir with priority habitat native woodland, and to connect some of these blocks with additional wood pasture creation. 

This will be a two-year project, undertaking baseline habitat assessments, plantation bird species mitigation planning and implementation, felling of plantation woodland and fencing this autumn/winter (to March 2027). Re-stocking with native woodland species and the additional creation of wood pasture will take place in year 2. 

The hope is that the project will also benefit an adjacent Biological Heritage Site through improved access to allow for conservation grazing of the site alongside the wood pasture.

 4. Application in development with United Utilities for peatland restoration.

The Forest of Bowland team have undertaken a survey for a degraded peatland site near Catlow Fell (outside of the SSSI) to inform a restoration proposal for the site which is dominated by purple moor grass and currently poses a key wildfire risk. Previous restoration has also already been undertaken higher up the catchment.

Suggested interventions will include bunding, grip and gully blocking and management of the purple moor grass with the aim to inhibit its regrowth and allow for the wildlife-rich blanket bog habitat to re-established. As well as increase the species diversity on site (both flora, which should in turn improve grazing, and fauna, particularly bird and invertebrate life) the project will help to reduce the wildfire risk and hold more water on site particularly during heavy rainfall events.

Developing the projects in these first few months has been difficult, having less than a year to plan and implement these projects, with a number of projects falling through, at least in this first year. The strict funding criteria has also made developing these projects difficult, especially under the timescales and we have fed this back to Defra.

We are continuing to pipeline projects for years 2 and 3 and hope to include more river restoration, woodland restoration and creation and peatland restoration as well as wetland and pond creation and species rich grassland creation in line with the Forest of Bowland Management Plan objectives.

From April 26-September 26, Abbie continued working with groups in the Lancaster and Morecambe communities, building on connections she began to make at the beginning of the year. There was a strong focus on building connections with established nature groups/organisations that already offered nature and wellbeing sessions in the Lancaster and Morecambe area, to enable participants to "move on", and continue their nature connection after their sessions with the CPAN project came to an end. This maximised the impact of the connections in the community, ensuring the Connecting People and Nature sessions had a legacy for the participants involved. 

From April 2026 – October 2026, Abbie has facilitated 35 sessions with groups from Lancaster and Morecambe. There has been a total of 115 new participants take part in this 6-month period totalling 297 attendances. 19 of these sessions were facilitated in the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, including Dunsop Bridge, Caton, Beacon Fell, and farms such as Whinney Hill Farm and Salisbury Farm.

A participant from Stanley's Community Centre in Morecambe passed on some feedback for the project:

"Thanks so much for your community engagement sessions you held at Stanleys. I didn't make much time for nature before this due to both physical and mental health limitations and thoroughly enjoyed each and every session. 

Your skills, personality and enthusiasm for nature and the link to well-being really helped to cement these feelings into my own mind and body and as a result of the sessions, I found myself having a sense of calm, peace and less physical pain alongside this. 

Having completed the course you held for us, I have signed up to further immerse myself in nature and now attend an allotment once a week through The Bay A Blueprint For Recovery. Again without you, I would not have gone on to continue to do this type of activity and especially not as regularly. 

I am now also booked onto a walk on the 17th July hosted by the Arnside/Silverdale Landscape Trust  as I have come to realise from experience that I do better in groups for motivation! I am also in the process of becoming a volunteer at Bee Adventures - I could go on, but clearly.... your sessions work well and should continue".