Rural & Environmental Land Management Consultant
Lois Mansfield
I have worked at the nature-culture interface between higher education and professional land management for over thirty years with expertise in upland agricultural landscapes and environment. I passionately believe that a strong agricultural basis for our uplands is needed to address our current crises in biodiversity loss and climate action whilst maintaining resilient highly-skilled rural communities.
Experience & Expertise
Professional
World Heritage Site Technical Advisory group Chair – 2019 to present responsible for collating advice and guidance from a panel of experts to support the management of the WHS.
Under and post graduate Lecturing in rural and countryside management 1993 to present covering all aspects of rural economy, countryside management, applied ecological and soil science.
Partnership
Local Grant Award Panels Local Action Group for Leader RDPE (Cumbria Fells & Dales) until 2019 and Local Action Partnership for Farming in Protected Landscapes (Lake District) from 2021 to present.
Churchill Fellow 2019: place based cultural capital as a rural development tool for Japanese marginal uplands. Learning and applying lessons from Eastern rural development philosophy.
Voluntary
Europarc Atlantic Isles (Europarc Federation) Board member from 2019.
Matterdale Phase 1 Survey- technical advice and expertise for the local community group running their own Phase 1 Habitat Survey.
Armitt Museum, Ambleside – Trustee & Board Member 2021 to present.
Academic
Director, Centre for National Parks & Protected Areas, University of Cumbria 2018 to present Leading a university research centre focused on developing trans disciplinary approaches to protected landscape management.
Director, Ambleside Campus, University of Cumbria 2018 to 2022 responsibility for stakeholder engagement, business development and student experience.
Publication: Mansfield L (2011) ‘Upland Agriculture & the Environment.’ Badger press purchase a copy »
Toolkit: Mansfield L (2018) ‘Managing Upland Resources: New Approaches for Rural Environments’. Whittles Publishing purchase a copy »
Toolkit: Mansfield (in prep) ‘Multiple Capital Approach for Marginal Upland Agricultural Systems.’ Routledge.
How I like to work
You may well already know me, I have always been solution focused and seek what works best for us, together.
Email contact ensures a swift response.
An initial virtual or phone meeting plus background email contact can go a long way to reduce environmental impact and save time and money. There is little worse than paying a consultant to go and find out information, knowledge and opinions you already have.
A site, locality or group community visit is welcome if the client feels this is best or appropriate. Listening and observing gives vital clues and leads to help uncover what is really wanted and needed.
Regular updates can be provided on the work, depending on length of contract and client needs. Feedback ensures we are on the right track and remain on ‘the same page’ or are aware of change.
Clients can engage as little or much as they wish throughout the contract. There is plenty to be learnt in being part of your own research, full training can be given, things may of course take longer and cost more, the outcome invariably improves too. You end up ‘owning the work’, rather than ‘having it done to you’, or for you.
Happy to work with clients in speaking to funders, officials, partners, landowners. Finding the best course through an issue will sometimes involve some compromise or at least exploring the other point of view / the ‘official line’.