Campfire Questions with Cameron McNeish

We wired Cameron McNeish, Wilderness speaker, editor of TGO Magazine and WFUK Trustee, to hear a bit more about what's going on in his end of the UK.

Here's the Q&A:

• You recently wrote on the TGO blog about 'The Wild Places', the new book by Robert Macfarlane – Could you tell us a little bit more about why our readers should check it out. Also, could you maybe give us an insight into what you discussed with Robert in your forthcoming podcast interview with him?

Many folk will be familiar with Robert Macfarlane's book 'Mountains of the Mind'. It was published to wide critical acclaim a few years ago.

His new book, The Wild Places, was published earlier this month. Rather than focus on the kind of person who climbs mountains Rob has placed the spotlight on the landscape itself. In that sense it's the kind of book that Americans tend to write much better than we do, people like Barry Lopez, Edward Hoagland, Ed Abbey and Annie Dillard, not to forget, of course, the earlier writers like Muir, Emerson and Thoreau. In the UK we have a good legacy in mountaineering literature - We also have a reasonable legacy in "nature" or "wildlife" writing - I can think of people like Gavin Maxwell and Frank Fraser Darling, although today's wildlife writers are but a pale copy of these people.

Very few people, with possibly the exception of WH Murray and Jim Perrin, and perhaps one or two others, have ever written evocatively about our relationship with wild places, and why such landscapes are important to us, spiritually and emotionally, not to forget any bio-vidersity role they have.

I discussed these issues with Rob and also a little about his background - his grandfather, who lives in the Scottish highlands, was a very enthusiastic mountaineer and is a superb botanist. Rob was brought up in these traditions. We also discussed the need for writers like Rob to remind readers that wild places are a dwindling commodity, and that it is incumbent on all of us to protect them.

• What are the main lessons you’ve taken away from both book and interview?

Robert very gently reminded me of my own role as a conservationist.

In particular he shared a thought that very much resonated with me. He told me he'd had some criticism from natural history scientists and academics who claimed that he focused too much on the emotional/spiritual side of the great outdoors, rather than work to a stricter scientific analysis.

That thought reminded me of a conversation I once had with the late WH Murray, whose first book, 'Mountaineering in Scotland', had been returned to him by a prospective publisher because it was “too spiritual.”

I’m very aware of such criticism, much of which comes from academia and science-based naturalists. It’s as though the emotional, spiritual or experiential side of the outdoors is almost worthless and yet such emotions, I would suggest, are inherent in all of us.

They are, as the wilderness poet Gary Snyder once said: "perenially within us, dormant as a hard-shelled seed, awaiting the fire or flood that awakens it again." Perhaps we can be the fire or flood that has that affect on people?

• Is it right that you’re thinking of doing more video – and if so, where will our readers be able to find it?

I've made a couple of DVDs - The Wasdale Round and The Howgills, for a company called Striding Edge, run by my old friend Eric Robson. I'm also making a series of Wild Walks for a BBC Scotland monthly programme called the Adventure Show. That series will eventually appear on a DVD.

I've also been pretty involved in making audio podcasts for my own website at cameronmcneish.co.uk and for my magazine's website at tgomagazine.co.uk so it seems logical to move on from those audio podcasts to video podcasts. I've just bought a pro video camera and have been working hard trying to master the video editing software so hopefully, within the next 2 or 3 weeks, we'll have videos running on both websites.

• Now you’re a wild places not to mention wilderness speaker in your own right – where would we be able to hear you this autumn?

Yes, the lecture season is just about to start and I'm off to the Isle of Arran for the Arran Walking Festival at the end of this month. That'll be followed with a talk in New Galloway, the Inverness Book Festival, two lectures for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Dunfermline and Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. On top of that lot I'm giving the annual Snowdonia Society lecture in Bangor and I've been honoured to be asked to give the annual Wainwright Lecture on this the centenary of Wainwright's birth. All the dates and venues are on my website.

• Give us a couple of top autumn reads that’ll broaden our mind.

Well, you must read Robert Macfarlane's book, The Wild Places and I would urge anyone to look out the books of an American/Welsh writer called Colin Fletcher.

Colin died earlier this year but his book, The Man Who Walked Through Time, is the finest outdoor book I've ever read. It's about the first on-foot traverse of the Grand Canyon before it was flooded.

Read it and it will open your mind to the amazing geological timespan that formed one of the world's natural wonders, the Grand Canyon.

Thanks Cameron - and best of luck with that hectic schedule!

A couple of quick extra links not covered above:

• Wasdale clip (WMV format, 2.5MB)
• The Howgill Fells clip (WMV format, 7.9mb)
• BBC Scotland Outdoors

Saving Planet Earth

BBC Television launched it's season of programming under the banner "Saving Planet Earth" last night (Sunday) with a wonderful introduction to the subject, provided by renowned naturalist and broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough.

The opening programme considered the question "What does our over-consumption mean for the rest of life that shares Planet Earth? Can a growing human population still leave space for wildlife?". Here at The Wilderness Foundation UK we were delighted that much attention was given to the nature of the world's last remaining wilderness areas, their unique character and their importance, not only as a scarce habitat for many of the world's most-threatened species, but as a place where man can reconnect with nature.

The next instalment in the series is broadcast tonight on BBC1 at 7:00 p.m. and features Will Young making an emotional journey into the heart of Africa to examine gorilla conservation.

Spectacular Wilderness Footage from the BBC: Planet Earth

Tonight on BBC, Planet Earth once again showcased just how beautiful a pristine landscape can be... Visit the BBC Science & Nature site to try the Planet Earth Explorer (UK users only though) or download one of their screensavers or wallpapers.

We also mentioned the BBC Planet Under Threat blog in a posting back in May - that's still going strong: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/planetearthunderthreat/

The Foundation encourages appreciation of Wilderness from afar, although our preference is of course by foot... If you'd like to out there with our help, then get in touch: info (at) wilderness foundation.org.uk or 08081786931/+441245443073.
- 2007 Course dates here.
- 2007 Trail dates will be posted soon...

BBC Radio 4 - Alaskan Wilderness on Excess Baggage

Today's edition of the weekly Radio 4 programme Excess Baggage had a journalist from the Scotsman on the panel who shared some of his experiences of Alaska:

Guy Grieve gave up his office job at a Scottish newspaper to spend a year alone in the Alaskan wilderness. Once in Alaska he cleared trails, built a log cabin, coped with dehydration, survived temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees, came close up to black and brown bears and trained a team of dogs. He wrote the story of his adventure in a book entitled Call of the Wild.

The most recent World Wilderness Congress was of course also in Alaska, and whilst we're in that corner of the globe, this Live Grizzly Bear Cam from National Geographic may be of interest if not entertainment: "Watch the world's largest gathering of brown bears on a live Webcam‚ as grizzlies at Alaska's McNeil River Falls fish for salmon on the run".

New BBC Radio 4 blog - Planet under threat

BBC Radio 4 has launched a new blog that may be of interest:

"It's part of a new series called Planet Earth Under Threat, which will go out at the end of the year. The programme team share their experiences as they go on location and they want to know your views, whether you're a committed environmentalist or a climate change sceptic."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/planetearthunderthreat/

BBC Radio 4: The Last Great Wilderness

Just in case you missed 'The Last Great Wilderness' on Radio 4:

"Less is known about the forest canopy than the depths of the poles, yet the forest canopies are thought to house 40% of all terrestrial biodiversity and are the main interfaces between life and the atmosphere. Up until recently the canopy has been relatively inaccessible but now, with the help of giant cranes with low environmental impact, the canopy’s secrets are being unveiled. The Last Great Wilderness builds up the first accurate picture of this “the most important biotic regulator on earth”. Flora, fauna and the relationship with the atmosphere are all under scrutiny. Many species, systems, and relationships of the canopy are still mysterious and much is still to be discovered." - Full story here, with Listen Again link to Programme I and II...

The Foundation's focus is usually at ground level but we encourage sensitive exploration of all wilderness areas for preservation purposes.