National Park Geography Resources

Land Use Conflict Web Activity

Aim:

  • To help students understand the breadth of land uses in the National Park and demonstrate how different land users can support and conflict with each other.
  • To demonstrate and encourage discussion; that when conflict does occur, the solution is not always straight forward and can have negative as well as positive consequences to other land users.
  • To help students understand the difficult role that the National Park Authority and our partner agencies have to face when dealing the variety of land uses in the Park.

Equipment:

  • Sticky name labels
  • Marker Pens
  • Large ball of green wool or ribbon
  • Large ball of red wool or ribbon

Preparation:

Ideally, before the activity, the students will have either had a presentation or site visit to view, discuss and list the different types of land use that occur in the National Park. These land uses can be listed on a sheet such as the one below to help students remember and choose a land use or character to ‘be’ during the activity

Example Record Sheet:

Land uses we have identified…

National Park Wide / Particular Area
(based on site visit – e.g. Luss, Balmaha, Trossachs)
Forestry / Water recreation (Power Craft)
Farming / Holiday Lets
Cycling / Cafes
Walking / Cycle Hire
Houses / WHW Walkers
Etc / Etc

Activity:

  • Ask students to find a partner. (Can be done individually depending on size, age of group and confidence students have in speaking and debating)
  • Arrange the group in a circle, standing with their partners.
  • Ask each pair to decide what ‘land use’ they are going to ‘be’, for example; farmer, dog walker, day tripper, campsite owner, local resident, forestry commission etc.
  • Once they have decided, write the name of their chosen role on a sticky label and ask them to wear it on their jacket. No two pairs should have the same land-use.
  • Once everyone has been labeled, ask them to look around the circle and think about the positive links that could occur between the different land users.
  • Take the GREEN wool and choose a pair to start with. Ask the students who would like to have a positive link with those people and their reason why. Choose the best reason based on their case and how well they put it forward (encourage good debate!)
  • Carry on doing this, passing the wool between the land users, creating as many links as possible, so that every pair has the hold of the green wool at least once. (Some pairs may have it more than once; which demonstrates to the students how important certain land uses can be to each other and the NP overall.)
  • Encourage the students to think laterally and ‘outside the box’ to come up with positive links…the possibilities are endless. E.g. a farmer and an ecologist – farmer could get grant funding based on what ecologist finds on their land to have set aside or removal of invasive species e.g. bracken spraying, leads to better grazing, less ticks whilst making better habitat for black grouse, other plant species.
  • Now take the RED wool and have the students think about some of the negative links between the land uses they have chosen to be. Again think beyond the obvious. Again some land uses may end up with more than one strand (e.g. informal campers or jet bikers usually)
  • There should now be a clear web of red and green strands across and round the circle; everyone with at least one strand.
  • Remember there are or NO right and wrong answers….although some may be very tenuous!
  • Now look to see who has the most RED strands. Pose the question that the NP (or other partner agency e.g. Police Scotland or FCS) is going to do something about that use; such as remove it altogether. E.g. Informal camping or motorized water craft. Pull on those strands leading to that land use and see how many other strands are pulled, both positive and negative.
  • Hopefully there should be some positive strands being pulled.

Example of what the ‘web’ could look like:

Conclusion:

Every action or decision that the National Park Authority or Partner Agency has to make about land use in the National Park has an effect, both positive and negative. This balancing act happens every day, year on year in the Park and hence sometimes things don’t happen quickly or to the satisfaction of everyone; especially when lengthy public consultations have to take place or by-laws have to be created.

Also, the links between certain land uses are not always obvious at first, again both positively and negatively. The knock on effect down the line can be more damaging (or improved) than first appearances may indicate.