All properties are now open, and access is available to nearly all of the Lake District fells.
The National Trust Lake District Crisis Fund has been set up to help farmers and countryside affected by the current foot and mouth epidemic which is devastating Cumbria. The National Trust's most important work in Cumbria is the conservation of about one quarter of the Lake District National Park. These 123500 acres are about a quarter of the National Trust's entire holding. One of the most significant aspects of Trust ownership is that since 1907 the Trust has the unique power to declare its land inalienable, meaning that it cannot be sold or mortgaged, thus ensuring that land aquired today will forever be held in safe keeping for the nation. Guardian of the Lakes' by Elizabeth Battrick published by the Westmorland Gazette in 1987, continues the previous work, describing properties aquired since 1946.