The chairman of the Perth -based gamekeeping body for Scotland fears the new five-year draft plan laid out by the Cairngorms National Park (CNP) could lead to job and investment losses.
Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) chairman Alex Hogg MBE was commenting after land managers and business groups across the land submitted their views on the park authority’s 2022-2027 Partnership Plan.
Every five years the CNP creates a plan that sets out the key priorities for the park, with the latest consultation closing in the middle of December.
The plan covers all areas of life and work within the national park, from conservation to land management, local communities and the economy to tourism and recreation.
The objectives and actions set out within the blueprint will influence land management practices in the national park area for years to come, and will undoubtedly influence policy and practice throughout Scotland.
Contained within the plan are increased tree planting targets, heightened deer culls and curbs on game management.
The park’s new five-year vision proposes smaller deer densities - of five to eight deer per sq km - reduced grouse bags and less pheasant releases within the park boundary.
However, Scotland’s gamekeepers believe the vision will “critically undermine the viability” of game businesses within the park, leading to job and investment losses.
This, they claim, would inhibit other key priorities such as skilled deer management and wildfire mitigation, which the plan requires to achieve its aims.
SGA chairman Alex Hogg MBE said: “Instead of utilising the vast skills within the land management community, this plan belittles their present and future contribution.
“It is extremely disappointing.
“This is a time when centuries of knowledge in field skills and things like humane deer management and wildfire mitigation are vital in a changing climate.
“The park needs to take these people with them. Ultimately, the white collars won’t deliver the priorities, people on the ground will.”
One of the plan’s proposals is for the park authority to push for less gamebird releasing despite consultation notes admitting the present information held by them was ‘patchy’.
The SGA also described the park’s deer management blueprint as “unworkable”.
Meanwhile Scottish Land and Estates also shares concerns that some proposals may reduce the ability of land managers, but adds that much of the proposed plans have been welcomed by the group.
SLE chairman Mark Tennant said: “The Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan is of great importance to SLE members who reside and work within the park’s boundary.
“On the whole, we feel the proposed plan is a progressive document, with many objectives that will ensure that the economy of the park continues to grow, as well as retaining its status as a key visitor destination within Scotland.
“We also believe that some of the proposed policy changes will enable nature to continue to thrive in the park with land managers being at the heart of wildlife and habitat conservation and restoration.”
