We follow these initiatives and ask all those who visit to follow these too to help keep our beautiful landscape spotless and to preserve it for generations (those living here and those visiting here) to come.
Read more about them below:
Ask landowner permission
As some of our territory is either in private or commonage ownership, please ask landowner permission before walking on their land.
The national trails that are publicly accessible are highlighted on our interactive map and more detail about them can be found here.
Leave No Trace
We are a community member of the Leave No Trace initiative. It is an “Outdoor Ethics Education Programme designed to promote and inspire responsible outdoor recreation” and “helps sustain a healthy and vibrant outdoor environment”.
The seven principles can be seen opposite:
No hammering
Hammering should not take place at any of our geosites to help with the preservation of the outcrops.
Samples can be taken for research purposes, but please ensure you have landowner permission before doing so. Alternatively, fresh samples can be taken from small roadside quarries. Please ask the Geopark Geologist for more information on where to find these.
Fossil Code
As exciting as it is to find fossils, please consider the following:
- Do you have permission to collect the fossil(s)?
- Is this a special interest site? Do you have permission to be on that land? Is this site protected?
- Will you damage the fossil or the rock around it by extracting it?
- Seek help from an expert, for example the Geopark Geologist, to help identify what you’ve found
- Keep details of where you extracted the fossil and label it
This code has been adapted from the Scottish Fossil Code.
Also be aware that….
Some of the sites within our geopark region are protected under EU, national and regional directives, such as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs), National Heritage Areas (NHAs), County Geological Sites (CGSs) and Nature Reserves.
These designations are independent of having UNESCO Global Geopark (UGG) status, and indeed were established prior to us receiving UGG status.