Applauding the guardians of our landscape

While acknowledging that ‘protecting the Island’s outstanding land and seascape character’ was just one of a number of key purposes, the immediate acceptance was that little could ever be accomplished without the direct collaboration of other major environmental stakeholders. Included among those having direct interests within the Park boundaries are private landowners, leading environmental and heritage charities and those working within the agriculture industry. Without their collective and constant hands-on management of fields, wetlands, woods and headlands, the rural character of the Island would look and feel very different to what we all love and respect today. It was also recognised that without the generosity of certain government and charitable organisations, public access to much of the Island’s open landscape would be off limits. In order to develop meaningful engagement with willing partners, a series of major national park public events have therefore been arranged annually. While the early spring ‘Walk in the Park’ promotes the remarkable environmental and cultural input given to the Island by specific charitable agencies, ‘Picnic in the Park’ offers supportive promotion to local growers and to the hospitality industry. In October 2022, the JNP launched its third and newest collaborative annual campaign – ‘Custodians of the Park’. Included within this aptly named awareness initiative were certain factions of the agricultural community that offered direct emphases on how farming practices have created, and continue to create, a strong relationship between the public and the rural landscape. Raising issues of environmental concern while advocating due respect for the countryside were the main drivers of this event, which could not have materialised without the direct involvement of an impressive number of individual representatives from a wide diversity of organisations. As a result of such supportive collaboration, subjects ranged from the provenance of food and its ecological footprint to the environmental link between farming, conservation management and habitat enhancement. Additionally, several on-site visits to selected locations within the borders of the national park allied to a number of indoor presentations and exhibitions, strove to emphasise the astonishing debt of gratitude we owe to those who shape the Island’s rural identity.

Applauding the guardians

of our landscape Whether farmers, environmentalists, horticulturalists, conservation rangers or ecologists, each one plays an often unsung role in carrying out When the Jersey National Park interim sustainable countryside husbandry and environmental management. working group received official government What has now become widely recognition in 2014, a number of challenges recognised are the many challenges facing the farming industry and those needed to be confronted and specific tied to the rural economy. requirements implemented. By Mike Stentiford Industrialisation has profoundly changed the way food is produced and consumed, while supermarkets continue to have a major influence on food packaging and distribution. While understanding that imported food products account for a major portion of what we consume, the distances travelled and the carbon created is something that often slips to the back of the mindset. Add to this the global competition, ever increasing production costs and the unpredictable threat of extreme weather conditions, and the challenges facing the local agricultural community become worryingly clear. What is firmly acknowledged is that the Jersey National Park is not a landowner, but that within its designated boundaries a diverse range of organisations and commercial activities each play a crucial role in maintaining the Island’s remarkable rural character. Offering full support to such agencies will be the sole and genuine purpose behind future events such as the ‘Custodians of the Park’. More to the point, this particular initiative will have shed some topical light on those who maintain and manage the landscape on every Islander’s behalf.