Britain, France, and the European Union - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 98

it owns 180 reserves. It has a paid staff of 1,300 people and more than
13,000 volunteers. The Society has 175 local groups and 110 youth groups.
It is affiliated with Birdlife International. It is concerned with how birds
are impacted by governmental and private development of forests, high-
ways, airports, rivers, and fisheries.
The National Trust, nearly as old, has more than 3.4 million members.
Natural areas are only one of its concerns. It owns 166 houses, 19 castles,
47 industrial monuments and mills, 49 churches and chapels, and 35 pubs
and inns. It manages 600,000 acres of countryside, moorland, beaches,
and coastline. Although most property adjoins historic buildings, some
are nature reserves like those at Wicken Fen, Cheddar Gorge, Blakeney
Point, and the Farne Islands. Recent acquisitions are the Mournes, Orford
Ness, and a large part of Snowdon. The trust owns about a quarter of the
property in the Lake District National Park and an eighth of the property
in the Peak District National Park. Unlike parks in United States and most
non-European countries, the government does not actually own most of
the property in its national parks. Instead, they were assembled during
the 1950s and 1960s from a mosaic of private, charitable, and government
sources. The trust has played a key role. More than in other countries, pri-
vate organizations play a key role in administering government programs.
The Friends of the Earth is large and influential. The British affiliate
was established in 1971, only 2 years after the organization's founding
in the United States. That year it gained national attention by dumping
non-returnable Schweppes soda bottles outside the company's London
headquarters. The Friends successfully opposed plans by the Rio Tinto
corporation to mine zinc in Snowdonia National Park. Later it led a boycott
against do-it-yourself stores that imported hardwoods from unsustain-
able tropical rain forests. The British group soon became larger than its
American parent. It has 200,000 members and three hundred local groups.
Other UK groups are for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England was founded in 1926. It has
60,000 members organized in more than 200 district groups. It opposes
urban sprawl, roadside advertising, and new motorways. It favors tranquil
areas, greenbelts, and locally grown food.
The World Wildlife Federation was established in 1961 under British
leadership, including Sir Julian Huxley, the biologist, and Sir Peter Scott,
the painter, to be fully international in sponsorship. The initial purpose
was to protect Indian and African wildlife. The former colonies in Africa
were in the process of gaining independence, and the founders worried