One of the funniest things about Prince William’s relationship with his father is that William is constantly stomping on Charles’s newscycles and Charles inevitably has to eat it. Sure, Charles will bitch and moan and the royal reporters will dutifully report “the king certainly wishes William wouldn’t have announced this on such-and-such special day,” but Charles fears his incandescent son, so nothing really happens. Well, just ahead of Trooping the Colour, wouldn’t you know, William decided to launch a new project/mission/scheme. William traveled to Dartmoor on Thursday and unveiled a new “20-year project” to restore the moor/habitat.
Prince William is on a new mission. The Prince of Wales, 42, made a surprise visit to a remote part of southwest England on June 12, kicking off an ambitious restoration project. William — dressed for the outdoors in rain boots and a flat cap — visited an area of restored peatland on Dartmoor. He was there in his capacity as head of the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns about 68,000 acres of the ancient moor, which is now a protected national park. But peatland, which is a natural store of carbon, is being eroded, and climate change is causing other stresses to the landscape.
A collaboration between the Duchy and Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Project is uniting landowners and others to encourage new approaches to grazing, biodiversity, conservation and river restoration, as part of the largest project of its kind in the U.K.
The new landscape vision for Dartmoor which hopes to restore the wilderness while also strengthening its resilience to changes in the climate and also meeting the changing needs of local people and farmers. The plan hopes to recreate wooded areas to shelter rivers and re-establish more traditional cattle and sheep grazing practices — and building more affordable housing.
Prince William, who was hosted on Dartmoor by Duchy tenant farmers David and Justine Colton as he was updated about the initiative, called it “bold and ambitious.”
Writing in the foreword to the Landscape Vision for Dartmoor, the prince says, “The balance between nature and people has evolved for thousands of years to shape the landscape we recognize today. To keep Dartmoor special, we must respond to the twin challenges of global warming and the requirement to restore nature, while ensuring the communities on Dartmoor can thrive.”
Every public statement from William really comes across like a kid reading a book report. As for the Dartmoor project… it’s fine. Last year, there were calls for William to do more and be more engaged with what was happening in this area, on duchy land, and look, he’s stepping up and doing something. I’m sure it’s mostly being organized by staff and professional conservationists, but that’s fine – I’d much rather William just put his name on something than try to reinvent the wheel and leave a mess for someone else to clean up. As for William’s look in Dartmoor… I remain disgusted by the beard, but the cap improves his look overall. He looked like he was having a really hard time walking in those wellies (they were too big for him, right?). Anyway, I’m sure William will continue to steal his father’s thunder on Sunday too – Father’s Day! New photos will drop.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
