A Volunteer in the Yorkshire Dales National Park

There have been volunteers working in the Yorkshire Dales National Park for over 40 years. An access agreement with the Duke of Devonshire’s Bolton Abbey estate required the West Riding County Council to provide wardens at the weekends for Barden Moor and Barden Fell (Simon Seat). This agreement pre-dated the implementation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (Right to Roam) by 40 years and providing the four person-days per week was way beyond the two full-time staff for the Park, at the time, so Voluntary Wardens were established.

Over the years, it was realised that volunteers might be able to do other tasks either based on their previous experience or with the benefit of further training. Only over the past ten years has there been a paid Volunteers Co-ordinator whose role includes convincing a wide range of paid staff that they can achieve more with the support of volunteers. This has led to groups of trained volunteers helping regularly with dry stonewalling, doing various practical tasks or leading walks for a wide range of groups including school parties and groups from inner cities. There are now about 250 volunteers supporting the paid staff, including those at the Dales Countryside Museum at Hawes.

However the aspect I find most interesting is using volunteers to be the eyes of the various specialists. It took some imagination to work out how non-specialists could be used without degrading the work. In many areas systems have been devised where non-specialist volunteers can make simple reports that enable the specialists to focus their time on the problem areas and the arrival of simple, cheap digital photography has further increased the value of the volunteers’ reports.

The first item to be tackled - and still ongoing - was keeping track of the state of the 2,100 km of footpaths and bridleways in the national park. With only a small workforce, it is not possible for paid staff to check all the paths, but the volunteers can walk all the paths every two or three years, making a simple report on each path. Paths are recorded in parishes, so when checking them you often find that the path to be checked stops at a small stream or other feature that is the parish boundary and someone else is checking the next parish. All the ‘crossings’, stiles, gates etc. are judged on a simple 3 point scale:

	1	=	good, for another 3 years
	2	=	may not last 3 years
	3	=	needs urgent attention.

A photograph of any problems can save the full-time Rangers a lot of time by letting them see exactly what the problem is; do they just need to take a large hammer or mallet or do they need to take a new piece of timber with them when they go to fix the problem? Volunteers are provided with a copy of the definitive map showing exactly where the footpath should be and it is surprising how often the footpath has drifted away from the official route. This is usually to everyone’s benefit, but you have to try to follow the path as marked on the definitive map; if there is a legal problem about obstruction of the route or an application to re-route it, it is the definitive route that counts. In one case this year this resulted in having to fight through head-high bracken. These observational duties can be done by a range of volunteers and they particularly suit those who are free at irregular times, due to work or other commitments. Personally I find these easy to fit into excursions with my wife who has much neater writing for filling in the forms and, in many cases, two pairs of eyes are better than one.

Volunteers also monitor the use of some routes. For example, recent attention has been focussed on the bridleways that are part of the Pennine Bridleway. Mechanical or electronic counters can be used for recording total numbers and, although they are very discreet, youngsters who discover them can sometimes cause them to miscount. However, the advantage of involving volunteers is that they can categorise users much more accurately, seeing the difference between a farmer on a quad bike and a recreational motorbike user. They can see if the majority of users are turning off part way along the track, or if the path is really very quiet but the numbers are boosted by a large walking group. These figures can be used as a base to tell if a traffic order closing a route to unauthorised motor vehicles is working or if the completion of the Pennine Bridleway will bring an increase in use. Doing this I have noticed an increasing number of people following a guidebook or a page downloaded from the internet, who have no map and no idea where they are, and will ask “is this the right path” without knowing where it goes to or comes from. The Malham area seems to cause these people some confusion and on several occasions while on Gorbeck Road I have met people walking away from Langscar Gate towards Langcliffe who have asked if this is the way to the Tarn.

Of course one also meets lots of dog walkers and the two most extreme of these we met were on Edge Lane out of Long Preston. This track is hard-surfaced for a long way. In the first case a man in a car stopped and let out a very excited terrier, the man got back into the car and, as soon as he started the engine, the dog shot off at high speed along the track pursued by the car. Some time later the dog re-appeared going slightly slower, still followed by the car, with the dog occasionally looking over its shoulder to see if it was time to stop. The other extreme was when I caught up with a car being driven very slowly with an elderly corgi walking at the side. The lady explained that her arthritis was worse than the corgi’s and this was the only way she could exercise him.

The National Park Authority sometimes takes advantage of the specialist interests of its volunteers. One project was taking photographs needed for the creation of the Out of Oblivion web site (www.outofoblivion.org.uk) by Dr Karen Griffiths of the Authority staff. This is based on the Historic Environment Record maintained by the Authority and is a fascinating introduction to the Yorkshire Dales.

Another project was to visit, measure and photograph all the lime-kilns marked on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps of the area. While some are easily recognisable, like the one by the A65 opposite the Falconry Centre, near Settle, others are now just heaps of stone but still showing traces of their former use.

The Authority’s team looking after the built heritage has set up a database on the web called Feature of the Season. Volunteers are asked to spot features that were once of great importance but are now falling into disuse. These include stock underpasses, churn stands, stone troughs still in situ and turbary stones. The North Craven Historical Research Group has also helped with records of these features from their study area.

The team has devised some more specific tasks for volunteers. One on-going task is checking listed buildings - not only houses and barns but other structures such as bridges are included. The volunteer is only required to look at the exterior of the building and most times this can be done from the road or another right of way. You are given the official description of the listed structure and although some of the architectural jargon is a bit difficult to understand at first (typical description - below), it is very interesting to see the points of interest and you are soon looking at other buildings with a more educated eye. Again the paid staff have thought through a simple questionnaire that will give them an assessment of the building so that they need to view only the problems, rather than spending time looking at the vast majority of the buildings that are in good condition. Most people are very proud to live in a listed building and are keen to show it to anyone interested. This has led to problems in villages with a lot of listed buildings. The owners are written to in advance to tell them that someone will be coming to look at their building. Turning up in the village with a National Park T-shirt and clipboard can result in everyone you meet wanting to show you their building until you have to say, “Sorry, I am trying to look at them in some sort of order and will get to yours shortly”.

Looking at or for Scheduled Ancient Monuments for Monuments at risk surveys can be more challenging. First find your monument! Most are un-investigated archaeological sites and you have to identify the correct bump in the ground or pile of stones. Again you have the official description and, importantly, the grid reference. The hazards here are changes of land use (particularly the planting of trees or erosion of the site by a footpath or farm vehicles), erosion by animals (an infestation of rabbits can play havoc with an archaeological site as can badgers or moles.) The volunteer makes a judgement that the site requires immediate management action, requires management action in the medium term, or no action at present. Again a carefully thought-through A4 report form can give the professional staff a good description of the state of the site, helped by photographs. This lets them assess changes to the sites easily, so that they only have to visit the problem sites and they have a good idea of the problems before getting there.

Being a volunteer with the Yorkshire Dales National Park gives you a whole new and interesting prospective on a day out in the Dales.

A Typical Description of a Listed Building

The Old Grammar School, now a junior school. 1601 with C19 alterations. Ashlar, graduated stone slate roof. 2 storeys, 6 bays. Plinth. Off-centre full-height gabled porch. Moulded doorway with 4-centred arch under a square head with foliated spandrels. Continuous dripmould above a panel inscribed “William Craven Alderman of London founder of this Schoole Anno Dni 1601”. The panel is flanked by engaged columns, which support a cornice. Inner studded board door with 4-centred arch. To right of left- hand bay a 4-panel door in chamfered surround, with a 4-centred arch. All windows have ogee mullions, with leaded light, those to ground floor have continuous dripmould, that to porch on first floor has continuous dripmould. Left-hand bay is of 3-light as is window above porch. Bay to left of porch has 2 lights. Other windows are of 4 lights. Ball finials, chamfered stone coping. Bellcote to right-hand gable. Ridge stack with 2 diagonally set shafts.