Drawing the Future of the Lake District

What happens when scientists, practitioners, and locals imagine the Lake District’s lakes together? They talked about shared values - respect, responsibility, connection - and used the Nature Futures Framework and the X-curve to turn those values into practical pathways for change.

At the Windermere Jetty Museum on 20 May 2025, the PLURALAKES team met in a hands-on workshop where participants mapped their values, formed three vision groups: “Functioning Fells, Living Lakes,” “Harmonious Lakes,” and “Reconnecting People to Restored Nature”, where they sketched futures that balanced ecological function with human connection.

They named tensions head-on (nature-for-nature vs. nature-for-society), identified “seeds of change” like shoreline restoration, citizen science, and collaborative partnerships, and discussed how monitoring, governance reforms, and green finance could help those seeds grow.

An illustrator captured the day’s ideas in real time, while the team noted whose voices were missing (tourism, agriculture, major landholders) and committed to widening the circle in upcoming sessions.