Upper glacial valleys: farming and forestry

Highland farming

Farming - especially sheep-farming - has been done in highland areas for centuries.

Sheep in the Yorkshire Dales

Advantages

• It has shaped the landscape, helped to build local communities and is an important part of local economies.

Disadvantages

• Farming may harm the environment.
• Trees and other vegetation need to be cleared to provide grazing. This vegetation is important for protecting the landscape from erosion and for providing habitats for wildlife.
• The introduction of too many animals leads to over-grazing. Over-grazing causes soil erosion which may squeeze out wildlife and pollute water sources. For many farmers this way of life is becoming less economically viable.

Highland forestry

Advantages

Conifer forests have been planted in many highland areas.

• Forestry creates local jobs and provides timber.
• New conifer forests can help prevent soil erosion and can help counter the impact of deforestationdeforestation: Deforestation is the destroying of forests by cutting down trees (for timber) or by burning. Often the purpose is to make way for agricultural land. elsewhere.

Disadvantages

The Yorkshire Dales

• Forestry may push out other vegetation and force other activities - such as farming - into decline.
• For some wildlife, the forest will provide a habitat, but other animals will lose their habitat.
• Some people argue that conifer forests debase the landscape - though others think they enhance it.