Ennerdale will be allowed to become a unique wild area

Wild Ennerdale aims to reduce human intervention to allow natural processes to shape the landscape and ecology in this part of the Lake District.

It will take decades for nature to completely take over the valley.

Those behind the project will address a meeting of global experts next week to look at how forests are managed.

We don't know exactly how this great experiment will work out, but that is the whole idea Gareth Browning, Forestry Commission

The Bridging the Gap conference near Malmo in Sweden is part of European Union efforts to protect the continent's forests.

The three main landowners in Ennerdale - the Forestry Commission, the National Trust and United Utilities - work together to identify features that prevent natural process happening, detract from the sense of wildness and identify any missing natural processes.

Gareth Browning from the Forestry Commission, said: "We're very pleased that the Wild Ennerdale project has been recognized in this way.

Natural processes

"We don't know exactly how this great experiment will work out, but that is the whole idea.

"We want to see what happens when nature is allowed greater freedom to develop a landscape."

A web cam has been set up to show how the valley changes during the seasons and in different weather conditions.

Jeremy Barlow from the National Trust added: "Wild Ennerdale is about people working in partnership with nature.

"There's still an important role for local farmers, for example, looking after the wild cattle we hope to introduce shortly which will recreate one of the missing natural processes."