POLL: Are the public agencies doing enough to protect Loch Morlich and the surrounding area?
The Cairngorms National Park Authority is looking to establish its own permanent ranger service as dirty camping reared its ugly head once again at the strath's most visited beauty spot.
The latest incident at the weekend at Loch Morlich follows a series of disturbances after the end of the Covid-19 lockdown in the Glenmore area causing frustration amongst local residents.
By co-incidence, proposals outlining a new dedicated ranger service are to go before the park authority's board tomorrow as part of an end of season visitor management review.
It will complement existing ranger services in the national park.
Chief executive Grant Moir and Pete Crane, head of visitor services, state in their report that all the visitor management efforts by a range of partners in these unprecedented times had 'gone a long way to limit the impacts across the national park'.
They added on rangers, seasonal rangers and police: "Boots on the ground has been a critical part of the work done this summer by a range of different organisations across the park."
Whilst plans for more rangers have been welcomed, there are concerns that the CNPA and others public agencies are not getting to grips with the problems whilst there is still time ahead of next spring.
There have been calls for Police Scotland to take a tougher stance on anti-social behaviour.
The report's figures reveal the CNPA's nine seasonal rangers were involved in tackling 217 campfires in the strath - 144 in Glenmore and Rothiemurchus – from July 29 to October 30.
They collected 164 bags of litter and dealt with 34 incidents of fly-tipping.
They spoke to 4081 people excluding campers, 749 tent campers and 153 people in campervans in the strath. By far the most activity was in Glenmore and Rothiemurchus.
To help reduce the problems, the CNPA has said there is potential to look at more informal campsites at key places and they need to ensure that formal campsites are open especially the Camping in the Forest site at Glenmore.
Mr Crane told the Strathy: "The CNPA and partners have been working hard throughout this year to help manage visitor impacts on the national park.
"The vast majority of visitors behave well but the sort of behaviour seen at the weekend at Loch Morlich is unacceptable.
"The current ranger services across the national park do a great job but as this year has shown, a dedicated team of national park authority rangers, operating in conjunction with the existing partner services, is of great benefit.
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"We hope to build on the work done this year and tackle a range of issues through infrastructure delivery, ranger service investment and traffic management but there is also a need for visitors to take personal responsibility and look after this place we all love."
In the review, the CNPA said it had been very clear on messages around fires, barbecues, litter and camping.
There has also been significant work to target first time visitors and specifically the 18 to 30 year old group including adverts on social media.
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