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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between the North East and

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

regions, and touching the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to ...

. 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 park in England. It covers an area of more than between the Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall, and it is one of least visited of the National Parks. The park ...

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 T ...

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 (forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in afforestation programs to create forests a ...

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 ...

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 North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

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 Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

, which flows to the southeast into the

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

. The

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

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

Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in ...

in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

. 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 E ...

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