It’s also the same with the Forestry Commission. I too feel that what they are dong in Dalby Forest is wrong – I’ve been walking those paths since the 70’s and over the intervening years had staged plays and taught art classes there. However today the Forestry Commission seem hell bent on making it a giant adventure playground for cyclists and people who wish to use zip wires to descend from the tree tops. Last weekend in the visitor center I noticed plans to build a giant dry-stone wall maze. Immediately kicking into the grumpy old man mode I began to bemoan the destruction of the forest – then I was put right by a very patient forest ranger. He pointed out that due to the Tory cuts and a certain pressure for them to be sold off to private companies & vested interests, (remember Caroline Spelman, well those ideas haven’t gone away), the Forestry Commission had to make money to survive and the money needed was a damn sight more than their income from sales of timber. Therefore they had to diversify. Before I could make the obvious comment he went on to add that the money generated went to conservation, research, preservation and many other good causes – but he also made the more important point that by making Dalby into “adventure playground” or “forest experience”, it took the pressure off other North Yorkshire Forests like nearby Langdale and Cropton. That by concentrating money generating ventures in Dalby the other forest were being left alone for (the minority) of people who enjoyed walking in a forest without cyclists and coffee shops. It also encouraged BMX riders to use the forest and not the moors or farmland.

When I calmed down and thought about it, it made sense. They pander to the needs of the general public, generate cash out of them, preserve what they can and one day (probably not in my lifetime) when zip wires and BMX biking has fallen out of fashion, the forest will once again evolve to meet the needs of the 21st century family with cash in their pockets. It’s a trade off that I’m willing to go along with – much better that allowing Spelman to sell them off to private ownership who don’t give two hoots for conservation, preservation ad public access.