Regulating bushcraft

[Bee Outdoors]

It all started to go wrong when somone gave it a name...

I wonder who gave it a name? Shen I was in Africa we just said I’m going to the Bush

 

[Herman30]

And in my country it is called "retkeily" no matter what you do. Be it a couple of hours out or a multi day hike.

 

[Robson Valley]

Guides, outfitters and pack trains of horses through the mountains here.
We're going on a 3 week camping trip to fish a bunch of lakes and rivers.
Like a client on safari, I suppose.
Follow the fur traders of centuries past. Lots of canoe routes that take weeks to complete. You better learn to like to eat a lot of fish.

 

[Silverclaws2]

Given perhaps we Britons are not as free as we think we, certainly in comparison to our European and Scandinavia neighbours, perhaps we should resist being hoodwinked into the loss of even more rights. As it's a possible given the actions of an extreme minority that has caused issues surrounding other with interest to bushcraft, might we consider it's possible an extreme minority or even an interpretation of an extreme minority action, might be used to limit everyone.

 

[Silverclaws2]

And I don't know about others but when I trip out, up on the moors I tend not to leave the moors with just my own rubbish.

 

[Bee Outdoors]

Given perhaps we Britons are not as free as we think we, certainly in comparison to our European and Scandinavia neighbours, perhaps we should resist being hoodwinked into the loss of even more rights. As it's a possible given the actions of an extreme minority that has caused issues surrounding other with interest to bushcraft, might we consider it's possible an extreme minority or even an interpretation of an extreme minority action, might be used to limit everyone.

I have always thought that the ones doing the damage are not outdoorsmen and woman just people that the media portray as such, it’s much easier to brand someone that kit fires destroyed a area as outdoorsman, wild campers or bushcrafters.
behind the term bushcraft is a whole community of people that practice a set of skills and ethos but fir people that don’t understand the difference it’s far to easy to associate us with the minority that have no ethos or interest in the skills. So that makes me draw a conclusion that it is education rather than more regulations needed.

 

[Woody girl]

Our local council are already discussing making overnight camping illegal anywhere in the area. All because one person tried once to camp during the first lockdown on a bit if grass by the river.
Never saw it myself, but in this small community there was a huge buzz in town about how this terrible person had tried to camp overnight there.
I think had it been any other time but during lockdown, it wouldn't have been such a big deal.
Trouble is allow it once and it snowballs in this present moment, and that presents all sorts of problems.
I see a problem that used to be relevant many years ago. All bikers are hells angels and a bad sort.
Nowadays with blood bikers and Easter egg runs and many other deeds, bikers are not quite so reviled, (though there are still a few that give a bad name.)

Not all fish are the same fish, but if you are living in the sea... you are a fish.

A strange saying a friend of mines mum came out with many moons ago when we were discussing why we got banned from pubs before we'd even opened the door, because we had turned up on our mopeds!

Yes education is the answer, but try telling that to a group of bored teens, or twenties that don't give a fig about any more than having a good time and leaving with a hangover.
Already we are seeing the discussion and putting into law, our rights to protest being restricted, wild camping will suffer the same after this summer when the party crowd will not be able to go to their usual Spanish or where ever party venue, so they will light a fire and get drunk away from parental eyes, and then we will get moorland and forest fires, rubbish abandoned and police called at the tiniest sign of someone sitting on the ground and wanting to stay for more than 30 seconds!

 

[demographic]

Part of the problem is that some people have spent so much to move out into the country that they want to pull up the drawbridge behind them so nobody else can enjoy it.
They buy a Landy, a pair of green wellies and start calling everyone else a townie despite the fact that many "Townies" were country kids who couldnt afford or weren't allowed to build to buy a house near where they grew up.

 

[slowworm]

Part of the problem is that some people have spent so much to move out into the country that they want to pull up the drawbridge behind them so nobody else can enjoy it.

Or perhaps they are fed up with people assuming they can trespass, steel, dump, set fire and damage private property?

The one thing I've learnt since owning a few peices of land is how little the vast majority of people care about the countryside.

 

[Bee Outdoors]

Our local council are already discussing making overnight camping illegal anywhere in the area. All because one person tried once to camp during the first lockdown on a bit if grass by the river.
Never saw it myself, but in this small community there was a huge buzz in town about how this terrible person had tried to camp overnight there.
I think had it been any other time but during lockdown, it wouldn't have been such a big deal.
Trouble is allow it once and it snowballs in this present moment, and that presents all sorts of problems.
I see a problem that used to be relevant many years ago. All bikers are hells angels and a bad sort.
Nowadays with blood bikers and Easter egg runs and many other deeds, bikers are not quite so reviled, (though there are still a few that give a bad name.)

Not all fish are the same fish, but if you are living in the sea... you are a fish.

A strange saying a friend of mines mum came out with many moons ago when we were discussing why we got banned from pubs before we'd even opened the door, because we had turned up on our mopeds!

Yes education is the answer, but try telling that to a group of bored teens, or twenties that don't give a fig about any more than having a good time and leaving with a hangover.
Already we are seeing the discussion and putting into law, our rights to protest being restricted, wild camping will suffer the same after this summer when the party crowd will not be able to go to their usual Spanish or where ever party venue, so they will light a fire and get drunk away from parental eyes, and then we will get moorland and forest fires, rubbish abandoned and police called at the tiniest sign of someone sitting on the ground and wanting to stay for more than 30 seconds!

Sad but true

 

[Bee Outdoors]

I think the issue is complicated. It's multi stranded.

There's the go for a wander with someone and learn type of bushcraft; we used to just call it going for a daun'er (daunder ? a quiet walk) or walkabout with someone who knows their patch, their area.
It's still 'teaching' but it's not teaching that needs certificates and insurance, etc., etc., etc.,

There's the Outdoor Instructor type of bushcraft that to be honest I railed agin them having to be taught and certificated and so on, but the reality is that if you work in the outdoors as an industry, as a business, then you have to have liabilty insurance, you have to have first aid qualifications, you have to build a reputation, and keep it. It's not just personal responsibility, it's public responsibility and responsibility for others.

Then there's the 'us'. The folks who just quietly go out and enjoy, learn through the seasons, through the years, (and that matters, no course is going to give the reality of the years in nice neat weekends packages; no YouTube adherent will ever learn it all from there. Those are just foundations, a thread of interest, a trail to set out on) have the real satisfaction of knowing, and knowing you got it right and you can do it. That you are able, you are capable, you are aware and very much part of all that's out there.
I don't think we need a certificate to say so.

Very well put

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Just one question ; Are there any actual governmental plans to regulate "bushcraft" or are we all getting het up hypothetically ?

 

[Wander]

Just one question ; Are there any actual governmental plans to regulate "bushcraft" or are we all getting het up hypothetically ?

What do you think..?

 

[Woody girl]

I think if this summer goes like last summer then yes, its a possibility that laws will change for the worse for us.
Perhaps we should be thinking about how we can deal with the influx in our own areas of stupid know nothing wild campers before things get too much out of hand. Offer to patrol and notify the relevant people if talking to them doesn't get them to move on.
I've just been doing just that today. Wild camper moved on politely and fire scar removed, rubbish collected and bagged ready for the estate manager to pick up for disposal.(two bin liners full)
A thank you from the owner and all good.
I know it won't be like that every time. If it had been more than one person, or they had been drunk, I would not have approached them, but we all have to use our judgement and make a call.
Maybe we will need to fight for our rights in the future if we as ambassadors of bushcraft just sit on our butt's hoping the problem will go away. Be proactive in showing that we can be responsible and that others are just a temporary blip.!

 

[Bee Outdoors]

Just one question ; Are there any actual governmental plans to regulate "bushcraft" or are we all getting het up hypothetically ?

As far as I know, no. But there are people in the community that are taking about it and some high profile people actually trying to promote the matter. All talk ATM.
but like everything it’s only a matter of time

 

[billycoen]

The goverment could set up the DBLA.....

 

[demographic]

Is it worth mentioning thatI grew up on a farm mostly and I've been on quite a few farms in the Lake District National Park area and some of the worst people for dumping crap in the countryside are farmers.
Theres often a hollow somewhere on the farm with all kinds of pesticide containers, bits of farm implements, half burnt silage bags, several half bags of solid cement and a few sheep carcasses.

Aye, custodians of the countryside.
Then theres the grouse moors which have more or less the same but the pest carcasses have the pesticide inside em somehow...

 

[slowworm]

I agree that many farmers aren't custodians of the countryside, although they can argue they are providing food.

I've also found the councils down here - parish, district and county - don't care at all and are happy to dump, damage and ruin the countryside despite what they may claim in their glossy literature. That's probably the biggest reason for no new laws as I can't see anyone qualified to enforce them.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

As far as I know, no. But there are people in the community that are taking about it and some high profile people actually trying to promote the matter. All talk ATM.
but like everything it’s only a matter of time

I suppose if Twitter creates a polemic in favour of regulation the government will be forced to capitulate..

 

[Robson Valley]

Every farm has a midden. Be thankful that they always dump the rubbish in exactly the same place. I wouldn't ever align them with the crap-casters, tossing and scattering rubbish with every step.

The Neolithic people on the west coast of Canada have done this as well over 15,000 years. The shell middens (oyster/clam/mussel) contain 10s of thousands of cubic meters of shell.