Ennerdale, Cumbria

Ennerdale is a valley in Cumbria, England. Ennerdale Water, fed by the River Liza, is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park.

Due to the remote location, the lack of a public road up the valley, and its management by the Forestry Commission, the National Trust and United Utilities, Ennerdale is relatively unspoiled. Ennerdale Water has not been as affected as other lakes in the National Park by construction, activity on the lake or the trappings of tourism.

There are two biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the valley:

In 2003 the valley's three major landowners formed the Wild Ennerdale Partnership. Working with Natural England, the Government's advisor on the environment, the project has a vision "to allow the evolution of Ennerdale as a wild valley for the benefit of people, relying more on natural processes to shape its landscape and ecology". The project managers have a commitment to maintaining the economic culture of the valley with small-scale forestry work and farming (low-density cattle grazing is replacing sheep).

Wild Ennerdale celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2013. In October of that year the project was represented at the World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain. Results of the project included:

There are more of this species, which spawns in the River Liza.

The trees of Ennerdale are important as an example of altitudinal succession (from "native upland birch-oak woodland at 120 m on the shores of Ennerdale the vegetation changes through sub-montane heaths and grasslands to montane heaths along the summit ridge at an altitude of 890 m"). The condition of the habitats in question (which are protected by the Pillar and Ennerdale Fells SSSI) have been assessed as "Unfavourable - Recovering".

As a result of the Wild Ennerdale project, there has been a blurring of the divisions between the wooded and non-wooded areas, although there is arguably not a natural tree line as such. (A natural tree line occurs in only a few places in the British uplands such as Creag Fhiaclach in the Cairngorms).

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