Border Moors and Forests NCA is an upland plateau region in Northern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between the North East and North West regions, and touching the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England. The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...

. The region, like much of the northern English uplands, is sparsely populated, with scattered farming and hardy shepherding in river valleys. Because of this sparse population, 39% of the region is part of the

Northumberland National Park Northumberland National Park is the northernmost National Parks of England and Wales, national park in England. It covers an area of more than between the Scotland, Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall. The park lies en ...

in the southeast and several military assets are placed here, both modern and ancient. The NCA is of lower elevation to the

Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes ...

to the east. The A68 is the only main road going through the region. Conifer plantations, moorland, bogs, wet heaths make up the landscape of the region, which only allows for rough grazing of sheep in most areas outside of the valleys.

Afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...

is a major environmental factor within the 20th and 21st centuries, as the

Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...

is the largest planted forest in northern Europe and has destroyed many native mires and peat bogs of the region. As such in the 21st century preserving the moors has been a top priority in the region as its habitat is home to high biodiversity and the region also serves as an important storer of carbon in its moors.

Hydrology

The region is drained through a measure of rivers flowing both to the west and to the east. The rivers North Tyne and Rede, starting at the Scottish border to the north, form valleys that cut through the plateau and form semi-arable valleys in North Tynedale and Redesdale. These rivers are both tributaries of the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

, which flows to the southeast into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. The

River Lyne The River Lyne is a river of Cumbria in England. The river is formed near the hamlet of Stapleton, Cumbria, Stapleton, five miles west of Bewcastle, by the confluence of the Black Lyne (moving from the north) and the White Lyne (from northeast) ...

and Irthing, which start further south than the former two rivers flow south-west to the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Gallow ...

in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

. The waters of the North Tyne are controlled by the

Kielder Water Kielder Water is a large man-made reservoir in Northumberland in North East England. It is the largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom by capacity of water and it is surrounded by Kielder Forest, one of the biggest man-made woodlands in ...

reservoir, opened in 1982, which is situated in the north of the NCA, surrounding the reservoir is a large area of afforested wood called the

References

Landforms of England Plateaus of England {{England-geo-stub