Dales A newspaper for the residents of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Winter 2020 DARK SKY RESERVE STATUS ANNOUNCED FOR NATIONAL PARK The exceptional quality of the Yorkshire Dales National offer their support and Park’s night sky has been recognised with its designation who collectively helped to as an International Dark Sky Reserve by the US-based bring international International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). recognition for the National Park.” The accolade, confirmed on 20 November, celebrates the awe-inspiring beauty of the National Park’s starscape, Since 2016, the Authority free from light pollution and appreciated by both has run a Dark Skies residents and visitors alike. Festival during February half-term. Obtaining It is the culmination of three years of engagement activity Reserve status will help and data gathering by the National Park Authority, local develop astro-tourism, authorities, Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, interest encouraging staying visitors Gazing at Comet Neowise in Kingsdale. (Andy Ward) groups and individuals. out of season. The application - the only one in the UK so far to be against Neil said: “Local support for the application makes it the IDA’s more onerous 2018 criteria - needed to show reduction in pollinators. Details of the grant scheme will clear that people see the seasonal business opportunities, light meter readings that illustrated sufficient darkness, be announced in the New Year. with increasing numbers seeking out the Dales for and that at least 67% of properties had ‘dark sky friendly’ “We are particularly grateful to the commitments made stargazing as an accompaniment to superb food, drink lighting - importantly, the National Park already has 90% by the District and County Councils to ensure when and hospitality. of residential properties meeting this standard. street lights are replaced they are shielded with 3000K “Visitor feedback shows how much they appreciate the The Authority also needed to demonstrate at least 80% not 4000K colour lighting - that is, warm white not cool National Park’s lack of light pollution, in complete support for the application by area and population. white.” contrast to the urban areas where they live. Something Communities across the National Park gave their strong The Dark Sky Reserve covers the whole National Park we should celebrate and not take for granted.” backing. A phenomenal 71 Parishes endorsed the bid, area, with the darkest ‘core’ comprising a large arc of representing 84% of the National Park’s population and Principal Planning Officer Katherine Wood said: “We are land which includes the upper parts of Wensleydale 81% of its area. fortunate that our dark skies have long been recognised (excluding Hawes), Swaledale, Mallerstang, Garsdale, as a special quality, and this means that the Authority has The Yorkshire Dales now joins a select global family of Littondale and Wharfedale. In total, the core area amounts asked for details of lighting schemes as part of planning 150 Dark Sky Places across 21 counties and 6 continents, to 658 km², 30% of the area of the National Park. applications since 2006”. 12 of which are in the UK. The Dales’ neighbouring If you would like to find out more, please get in touch with northern National Park, North York Moors, had its own “Importantly, Dark Sky Reserve status doesn’t mean no Claire Hodgson at [email protected] Reserve status confirmed on 30 November. lighting, it means thinking about good lighting. We or 01969 652369. recognise lighting is required for all sorts of reasons, but National Park Authority Chair Neil Heseltine said: we ask people to consider only lighting the area needed “Those lucky enough to live in the National Park know and no brighter than necessary, minimizing blue light Achieving Dark Sky Reserve status by 2021 is one of what it is to experience the immense tranquillity and emissions, and ensuring the light is pointing downward.” the objectives set out in the Yorkshire Dales National wonder of true dark skies. It is thrilling that the Park Management Plan 2019-24 - the single most Yorkshire Dales has received recognition for one of its Director of Park Services Kathryn Beardmore said “The important document for the National Park. most special qualities. traditional nature of our buildings and associated lighting means most residential properties in the National Park The Plan guides the work of the many organisations “Designation provides a fantastic opportunity to already have ‘good’ lighting for dark skies. We’ll be that operate within the National Park, and requires all celebrate this quality, to encourage tourism in the offering grants to help pay for changes to install dark-sky those that have an interest in the National Park to autumn and winter months, and to work with local friendly lighting at non-residential properties. This should work together to achieve its aspirations. authorities, businesses and communities to ensure our help reduce running costs too. Poor lighting can have dark skies are protected. For further information and to follow progress on other negative effects; it can disrupt natural sleep achieving the Plan’s objectives, visit “I would like to thank all those who took the time to rhythms, disturb wildlife, and affect insects leading to a www.yorkshiredalesmanagementplan.org.uk high a standard as possible. That’s been shown in some of None of that can be achieved without the people who A warm welcome to this the successes this year, most notably the Dark Skies live, work and cherish this wonderful landscape. Let us initiative and the Tees-Swale Project. hope 2021 brings sunnier times as we face these challenges together. winter edition of Dales Continuing our work as before has not been easy in some services and we thank you for your forbearance at Living and working in the Yorkshire Dales you tend to this difficult time. think you’ve seen everything. Flood, fire and pestilence have often featured, but never have we faced something You can read more about how we responded as an so life changing as COVID-19. organisation to the pandemic on the centre pages. At a time when some are facing a, literally, life and death Moreover, our longer term focus must remain on situation, it may be difficult to concentrate on the day-to- combatting the impact of climate change, assisting in day responsibilities. nature recovery, fighting the corner for the future of farming and land management in the Dales, and ensuring However, we have spent the past year trying to ensure the National Park is accessible to as wide a range of David Butterworth Neil Heseltine that, in providing our services to the public, we retain as people as possible. Chief Executive Chair Stephen Bostock, who farms in Coverdale, offered one of his traditional hay meadows, which was already in an agri- Farmers ‘score’ their habitats for environment scheme, to be a control site for comparison against meadows in the results-based pilot. He said: “Any scheme that can preserve these hay last time as part of trial scheme meadows is a good thing. The flowers have gone from a lot of fields around here, as land has been improved. But I Eighteen farmers taking part in a ‘Payment by Results’ The innovative pilot project, which is managed by Natural think things are changing and people are beginning to trial in Wensleydale have undertaken their habitat England in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales National value the traditional meadows and what they do for the condition surveys for what is thought to be the last time. Park Authority, is coming to the end of its five year term environment. - although Defra has not ruled out an extension. “The income from agri-environment schemes has been a The scheme in Wensleydale and Coverdale is paying the lifesaver for family farmers and has also enhanced the farmers according to the results they produce for two land from an environmental perspective.” important habitats: upland hay meadows and habitat for The Authority project team will now analyse the results breeding waders, such as curlew. Some 50 hectares of from this year to see how the habitats have fared and hay meadow and 285 hectares of wading bird habitat are how accurately the farmers have assessed them. This, part of the project. together with further analysis by Natural England, will The approach contrasts sharply with the prescriptive feed into the design of the Government’s proposed approach of conventional schemes, which pay farmers for Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, which following set rules, such as not cutting before a specific will replace existing schemes from 2024. date. Payment by results encourages the farmer to make the management decisions to improve the habitats on For more information, please contact the their land, with the added incentive of a higher payment info-circle Farm Conservation Team on 01756 751611 for their efforts. The better the health of the habitat, the or [email protected] higher the payment. Farmer Stephen Bostock in one of his hay meadows in July Ash dieback continues to take grim THE HEALING COLLECTIVE Encouraging health and well-being with a range of complementary therapies toll in the Dales • Counselling • Bach Remedies by Nicola Child, • EFT (tapping) • Reiki Trees & Woodlands Officer • Indian Head Massage Ash dieback has resulted in the + therapies for animals widespread mortality of young ash within our woodlands and open landscape. This Swinithwaite, near Leyburn DL8 4UH | 07981 908717 summer, though, we saw a dramatic decline in older, www.healingcollective.co.uk stand-alone field trees in the Yorkshire Dales, not helped by the late spring frost and drought earlier in the year, NO ONE SHOULD FEEL ALONE stressing the trees even further. Age UK North Yorkshire & Darlington offers a The disease is having a devastating impact across the Good Friends Telephone Befriending Service National Park.