1.1 Why do upland pathwork?
The Project Planning Cycle
| 1 Why do pathwork? |
Establish the rationale for your project. Does it merit work? |
Organise remit. Does your project fit with aims and objectives? |
Project manager |
At least 2 1/2 years before. |
| 2 Establish a steering group. |
Set up a steering group to oversee development and delivery of the project |
Bring in group members with key skills. |
Project manager and chairperson. |
Less than 2 1/2 years before. |
| 3 Build the project plan. |
Write a detailed project plan outlining development and delivery of the project. |
Set out the project planning for management and delivery. |
Project manager and steering group. |
2 years. |
| 4 Evaluate resources. |
Plan for level of work needed. What type of input. |
Is survey needed? What funding capital? Revenue? |
Steering group, project manager and funders. |
< 2 years. |
| 5 Assess limitations. |
Analyse risks and limits. SWOT analysis. |
Sufficient skills. Health and safety. |
Steering group and project manager. |
< 2 years. |
| 6 Plan the project aftercare. |
What type and how much maintenance is required? |
Draw up maintenance schedule. Identify delivery mechanism. Revenue funding. |
Steering group, project manager and funders. |
< 2 years. |
Hill paths in Scotland can be viewed within the historical context, with managed and evolved routes borne from diverse origins, and spanning shifts in land-use, economic activity in hill areas, land-management and access legislation. In many ways the hill-paths that are left in the wake of this dynamic leave a legacy, whether intended or not, for all of us to enjoy.
- Paths that link settlements, coffin routes, postal routes, drove roads etc., have typically evolved over a long period of time, with both formal and informal work carried out at different times.
- Paths exclusively for land management, particularly ‘stalkers’ tracks, built to facilitate pony access to the Coires on private estates. These would have been built intensively between the 1850s and early 1900s, after the land was cleared, and would have been maintained on a regular basis until labour became scarce during post-war years.
- Evolved hill walkers paths have become much more obvious in recent decades, with obvious ‘desire’ lines from the point of access to the summit of many of our larger mountains. These are the product of a wider public that wishes to access the hills for recreation purposes only.
An exponential increase in hill-walking through the 1970s, 80s and 90s has resulted in a tremendous amount of hill-path erosion both on pre-constructed routes, such as the stalkers routes mentioned above, as well as on the newer ‘evolved’ routes. Upland path work, in it’s modern form, and as a direct response to the path erosion caused by this access, was initially developed through the Countryside Commission for Scotland’s Upland Path Management Project during the mid 1980s.
Base data derived from annual listings of mountain rescues and Munro completions in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, and from the records of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland. © After Aitken (1977)
Sensitivity to erosion
The erosive effects of recreation are greatly exacerbated in Scotland by the complex interactions between the climate, topography, geology, pedology and botany on our mountains, making them highly vulnerable:
- The ‘oceanic’ nature of our synoptic weather systems, whereby many of our weather systems are generated by the North Atlantic, give rise to high rainfall, high winds and frequent fluctuations in air temperature.
- The latitude of Scotland and proximity to the oceans results in a steep lapse rate on mountains. As altitude increases above sea level, temperatures drop and wind speeds increase with an enhanced rate of change.
- Denuded of tree cover, the vegetation is typically arctic–alpine high up on our mountains, where aridity is a product of wind blow, and acidic grassland/heath on the lower slopes. Plant communities could predominantly be seen as ‘stress tolerators’ and are highly susceptible to disturbance, soils are very thin, parent material mobile and the environment as a whole can be seen to be highly fragile.
These phenomena are relatively peculiar to Scotland, with few parallels globally. The result is small ‘carrying capacity’ of hill users before damage begins. The vegetation, which holds the soil together, dies off after it has been trodden on so many times. The thin soils are blown or washed away, and more water concentrates into the path, which now resembles a shallow ditch. As water accumulates it washes away more material, leaving a rough and unconsolidated surface to walk on. The walker now goes along the edge of the damage and the cycle continues, with the process accelerating. The erosion scar continues to deepen and widen until intervention takes place. The product of these interactions is unsightly scarring on our wild landscapes.
Wider benefits of mountain pathwork
As the path industry, for such it surely has become, in Scotland has grown and developed there may be a number of good reasons to carry out this type of work, depending on each organisation’s rationale and remit. There are broadly three related reasons to repair, upgrade or create a new upland path and these are:
- Economic: It can be shown that the enormous increase in outdoors tourism and recreation produces a significant input directly into the economy of some of Scotland’s most economically fragile rural areas. Investment will be justified in the resource because:
- Negative landscape impact ought to be safeguarded against as an eroded landscape may well lose ‘value’ as a direct repsonse to the pressure of sheer numbers on the landscape.
- Added Value may be demonstrated by marketing an upland path with a view to bringing in more visitors to the area than would have come without that investment being made.
- Social: At a time that, in European terms, public health in Scotland has been identified as a major priority for the Scottish Parliament, walking provides an inexpensive activity that the vast majority of the population can enjoy at one level or another. Health benefits are not only physical, but also just as importantly mental. Recreation in the countryside provides a panacea to an ever-increasing pace of life in the modern world.
- Environmental Conservation: Our upland environment and landscape is a precious resource, containing much of value in terms of natural and cultural heritage. This must be preserved and enhanced for future generations, so that they too can walk unhindered in a beautiful and unspoilt landscape.
Most path managers will carry out work for a combination of the above reasons, with emphasis placed according to the organisational remit.
Whatever the overriding rationale for becoming involved in this type of work there are two fundamental concerns that must be addressed:
- The work must be as sensitive as possible, and should not detract from the wild land qualities that it seeks to protect.
- The work should be ‘sustainable’, in that it must be managed in such a way that the impacts of access will be borne. It should be recognised that increased use may well result in greater damage further into the hills.
Effective management allows this public access to outstanding mountain landscape and habitats, without damaging the very essence of what makes these areas important and despoiling it. Getting the balance of this relationship right is key in terms of securing environmental conservation and safeguarding the rural economy as well as added social and health benefits.
Principles of upland path management
In Scotland, upland pathwork has primarily been motivated by a desire to ameliorate erosion caused by increasing numbers of walkers taking to the hills. The purpose has not, on the whole, been to make access to the hills easier, though this is often an inevitable by-product. Assessing what type of path management and promotion is appropriate in different settings is, therefore, a key issue to address.
Pathwork is now extending into more remote and wild places, requiring new techniques that will have a minimal impact on the character of the landscape. The dilemma is to provide a durable response capable of bearing the pressure of walkers and climate, whilst not compromising the experience of walking through beautiful and wild countryside.
New techniques are constantly being developed in response to these factors. But ultimately wider site management, e.g. of car park location or even grazing regime, may be the sustainable response.
In 1995 The House of Commons Environment Select Committee endorsed the ‘Guiding Principles’ of upland path work that were based on The British Mountaineering Council’s policy statement on upland pathwork. The path industry, such as it is, does not have a governing body that regulates standards of work, contract or management procedures, such as the Institution of Civil Engineers for civil engineering. However, the Upland Path Advisory Group (UPAG), formerly the Path Industry Skills Group (PISG), does provide guidance and set standards. The following principles have been accepted by the path industry in Scotland.
- Pathwork will be carried out within a coherent management framework, including a commitment to long-term maintenance. It will integrate with other management objectives.
- An understanding of the underpinning philosophy and practice of path improvement is required of managing and funding agencies.
- Pathwork will be generated by area survey and prioritisation.
- Priority will be given to curtailing and restoring environmental damage while also enhancing the visitor experience.
- Environmental sensitivities will be given stringent regard, particularly in sites of outstanding landscape and/or natural heritage quality.
- Management of the path will be informed by suitable consultation with interested parties.
- The purpose of the path and its expected use will be defined and the path built to fit this purpose.
- Pathwork will be of the highest standard of design and implementation, preferably using locally sourced materials in harmony with the site.
- Good environmental practice will be paramount. No material won in works will be wasted. Techniques used will protect existing vegetation and cultural remains and the site will be left in as natural a state as is practicable.
- Those involved in the design, implementation and supervision of pathwork should be demonstrably professionally and technically competent.
- All work will be carried out in accordance with legal obligations and the requirements of current health and safety legislation.