We’re often told there’s a rural “culture war”. That nature recovery and rewilding is an urban agenda imposed on an unwilling countryside. But what happens when you ask people what they want? National Parks polling offers some striking evidence. 🧵

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For sure, there are very real disagreements on the future of the countryside, and of places like Dartmoor ... but these don’t amount to a rural–urban culture war.

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These polls don’t settle every dispute. But they challenge the idea that rural residents are inherently hostile to nature recovery or that voices of opposition speak for the whole countryside

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And this went beyond liking wildlife in principle. In the same survey, 81% supported changes such as restoring wildflower meadows, reducing grazing animals and increasing broadleaf trees, even where these would change how the landscape looks.

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An RSPB-commissioned survey of 1,750 adults in England found 90% thought increasing wildlife in National Parks and AONBs was important. Among residents, it was 96%. wcl.org.uk/people-want-...

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