CNPA calls for more collaboration with estates
The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) wants to collaborate more with land managers to ensure greater diversity of habitats in the uplands of the park.
The authority made the announcement ahead of its board meeting in Boat of Garten on Friday (December 12).
Hamish Trench, the CNPA’s director of conservation and visitor experience, said: "Managed moorlands in the Cairngorms National Park cover almost 45 per cent of the park’s land cover and estates make up nine per cent of the total employment in the park.
"So moorland management is clearly important to delivering conservation, visitor experience and rural development.
"Over recent years though, there has been an increase in management techniques designed to maximise production of red grouse for sport with concerns expressed about their integration with wider land use objectives.
"We want to work with land managers to explore how to deliver greater diversity of habitat and species benefits."
The opportunities being highlighted include increasing woodland connectivity, peatland restoration, addressing impacts of fencing and hill tracks, muirburn and raptor conservation.
Collaboration on a landscape scale is needed to deliver these benefits, recognising the need for economic viability to underpin land management.
Scottish Land & Estates, which represents landowners across Scotland, has supported the CNPA’s announcement.
Tim Baynes, director of the Scottish Moorland Group (part of Scottish Land & Estates), said: "We are delighted to be involved with the CNPA in developing a process of greater collaboration between landholdings in the park.
"The strategy will explore how individual estates, which all have different management objectives and are already delivering a range of public benefits, can do so more effectively and in a more "joined up" way.
"From initial discussions, it is clear that interests between estates within the park are often aligned and more can be done to ensure that this is maximised for the full benefit of all stakeholders."
