Lake District Down the Plug Hole?

There is a somewhat jaundiced article by George Monbiot (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/02/lake-district-wildlife-desert-blame-wordsworth) on yet another application from the Lake District to be granted UNESCO World Heritage Status. His basic point (for which I have a deal of sympathy) is that agriculture (in this case sheep farming on the hills) has largely created a 'wildlife desert' (although even 'deserts' benefit certain species). The sheep have certainly denuded the location of its original trees and most substantial plants (actions that would certainly make the area uninhabitable for many animal species).  Monbiot freely admits that the Lake District is associated with some of the early enthusiasms for  environmental issues but feels that the pastoral enthusiasms of Wordsworth and Ruskin were a result of looking at this world through rosé-tinted spectacles in their times. Hill farming, he points out, requires big subsidies and limits the numbers of people required (perhaps not wholly a bad thing?). Granting the location World Heritage Status would probably further fix things in aspic?