Your piece (Conservationists call for Lake District to lose Unesco world heritage status, 7 June) quotes campaigners who criticise sheep farming in this most revered area of Britain. The Lake District is a national park, with protected and designated sites of special scientific interest.
The fact that sheep farming and hefted livestock grazing has been core to its management for over 3,000 years suggests it has created something of value. How ironic that rather than celebrate (and further fine-tune) its farmers and graziers, and the surrounding rural infrastructure that depends on this primary activity, ecologists want to see sheep farming’s demise.
