Question- 5 marks

Explain why the number of visitors to National Parks can vary so greatly (What's our examples for National Parks)

• Upland areas like Snowdonia contain glaciated features which make them attractive to visitors

Answer:

Corries: Glacial erosion occurs through a process of abrasion and plucking.plucking is when glaciers freeze to rocks, and when the ice moves, pull these rocks away.Abrssion is when rocks plucked by the glacier are dragged along the corrie back and sides, Corries are steep sided hollows usually found on the north facing side of a mountain where snow has accumulated and gradually compacted into ice forming a glacier. The ice in the depression slowly rotated causing considerable erosion of the walls and floors, this is known as rotational sliding. As more ice accumulates the glacier moves down the mountain and out of the hollow under the force of gravity. At the mouth of the corrie, where glacial erosion is weakest, a corrie lip is usually formed. The deepened hollow left behind is called a corrie occasionaly meltwater left behind in the corrie forms a small lochan or corrie tarn kept in the corrie by the lip, acting as a natural dam. Examples of corries in the Cairngorms are Cairn Toul and Corrie Cas

Aretes: when two of these corries form back to back, the retreating back walls bring them closer together untill they form a narrow sharp edged ridge known as an arete. An example of an arete in the cairngorms is Afterthought Arete

Pyramidal Peak: a pyramidal peak is formed when 3 or more corries form back to back

U-Shaped Valley: As a glacier makes its way down a v-shaped valley, material on the bottom of the glacier abrades the valley floor deepening it and the plucking force of the glacier smooths the walls of the v shaped valley creating truncated spurs thus straightening the valley. The Lairig Ghru is a good example of a U-Shaped Valley. As the glacier moves down the valley it pushes unsorted material in front of its snout(terminal morraine).

Ribbon Lake: A ribbon lake is a lake formed in a u-shaped valley. As the ice melts it may leave behind water in a hollow which was created as the glacier abrased and plucked the valley floor faster in some areas, this may have been due to rock type.

Hanging Valley:Hanging valleys are created by small tributary glaciers just off of the main glacier. They are much smaller and have much less power. They travel down the valley side until they reach the main valley where the main glacier is eroding. Since it is not powerful enough to erode past this glacier, it remains here and leaves a much smaller valley hanging off the edge of the previous valley. Water from the glacier melts and travels down the valley, when it gets to the edge it falls off and creates a waterfall. Waterfalls are a key identifier of hanging valleys. Alluvium from the river can be depoisted at the bottom of the waterfall, this is called an aluvium fan.

Hill walkers trespass on farmland, damaging crops in the process. Their pets disturb animals and hillwalkers can leave gates open, causing livestock to escape. The dropping of litter by walkers not only harms livestock but also creates visual pollution in the area too. One way The National Park tries to solve this conflict is by encouraging visitors and walkers alike to follow the outdoor access code.Another is to Employ park rangers and provide picnic areas with litter facilities, the effectiveness of this is however debatable as picnic areas may encourage more hillwalkers and therefore more pollution and disruption to the Cairngorms. However, this is not very effective as the size of national parks means it is extremely difficult to enforce. The outdoor access code has also been introduced, this allowes anyone to enter anyone elses land as long as they treat it with respect, however in most cases, for example 'the inverclaude estate' in the cairngorms, people such as roadside campers do not treat the land with respect, often leaving litter and equiptment behind for the farmers to pick up.

A further conflict is between the tourists themselves. Those who wish to take part in water sports and other noisy activites conflict with those who want to enjoy the scenery quietly, for activities such as fishing. A solution to this is zoning where specific areas are designated for different activities. Restictions such as speed limits on the water can also reduce the conflicts. Zoning is generally effective as it keeps conflicting activities apart.

Another conflict is between tourists and locals within honeypot towns such as Laggan. People buying holiday homes means there are less houses for local people and house prices increase as they are geared towards the tourist market. As tourists only use their holiday homes at certain times, there are often few people in the area, creating a lack of a community. This affects local shops and services, for example schools might have to close because there are not enough local children. A solution to this conflict is to reserve certain homes for locals only or to provide local authority housing.

There is also an increase in traffic congestion and danger on local roads because of tourists. Slow moving tourist vehicles create congestion and pose a problem for the emergency services should they need through. The solution to this is creating separate routes for local and tourist traffic, which may be effective in solving this particular problem, but building new roads could cause conflict with conservationists and it also encourages more visitors leading to more traffic problems. Another solution is to attract tourists to other areas, but this can lead to new 'honeypot' problems elsewhere.

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Another conflict in the Cairngorms is the funicular Railway and the affect it has on the locals and tourists. It can create visual pollution that ruins the natural look of the landscape, it can destroy the habitats for the wildlife, destroy and disturb the plants, it can also have a intrusion of commercial development. The National Park can screen the railway or use a tunnel to minimise the visual intrusion. But this isn't very effective cause it can still cause noise pollution so people still know that its there and this can disturb people who are coming for a relaxing holiday or outing.

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The popularity of national parks is determined by a number of features. A national park must be close to large ares of settlement so it can easily attract visitors who only live a short distance away. This is a clear attraction to the Peak District national park which is situated close to large cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. Another attraction is the recreational opportunities of the park. For example, The Cairngorms national park is very popular with active tourists who participate in activities such as skiing and rock climbing. The scenic beauty of a national park can also increase its popularity as it will be attractive to passive tourists. For example, the Lake District is famed for its magnificent glacial landscape.

Many features determine the popularity of a national park and these can include: areas of natural beauty - sometimes you must travel away from the city to see ares that have been preserved by park rangers in showing of natural beauty in the form of wild life, rare plants and great rocks figures found in malham for example, which is a honey pot renowned for its limestone scenery. another factor in determining the popularity is easy of access - national parks must not be to difficult to access or else not many visitors would be encouraged to go there. so motorway access and roads have to be implemented to make the travel not too off putting. some national parks have better resources than others such as cleaner air (less pollution), earth and water. good qulaity earth and soil is a results of limited ammount of fertilisers that farmers are allowed to use on plants. Furthermore thousands of years of human influence that can be traced in the landscape provides another factor that determines the popularity as it might be close to or in a site that used to be famous from previous centuries. in addition to the previous statement distinctive villages and building styles might be an attraction to tourists as opposed to some other national parks that dont have quite as a unique attraction. Finally customs, legends, traditions and arts found in the peak district provide a magnet for tourist attraction due to its diversity and character.

*SD*