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The management of Scotland’s wildlife is often controversial and divisive but an updated plan is essential for the development of the Cairngorms National Park, says Grant Moir

The management of deer in Scotland has always been a fairly controversial topic and the subject of a number of reviews and debates of which the Cairngorms has often been at the centre.

We have recently been looking at the next management plan for the Cairngorms National Park, and I have been re-reading documents from the ancient past – or 1992 as it is called. ‘Common Sense and Sustainability: A Partnership for the Cairngorms’ was prepared by the Cairngorms Working Party and chaired by Magnus Magnusson. The Working Party included landowners, councillors, academics, environmentalists and many others. It had a whole range of recommendations and on deer they provided what seems even now a radicaltemplate: “Werecommendthat the long-term management objective for the entire Cairngorms Area should be to achieve continuing natural regeneration without fencing by a reduction of deer numbers”.

So what has changed since that report? There has been significant progress with woodland expansion at Glenfeshie, Abernethy, Mar Lodge, Invercauld and many other places. You only need to stand in some of these glens to see the woodlands starting to expand from the remnants of ancient woodlands.

Deer numbers, especially in the west of the Park, have come down substantially and there are whole areas of natural regeneration happening in Strathspey.

Of course in 2003 the area also became the UK’S largest National Park, and deer issues have been part of the management discussions throughout the park’s existence.

In looking at the change in the Cairngorms over the last 25 years it is worth considering how much has been down to public policy, public funding and how much to changes in private ownership.

In thinking about where we go next, there is sometimes too much of a desire to pigeonhole all debates into either/or scenarios, such as woodland expansion versus traditional deer management.

And yet at a recent Parliamentary Committee the Chair of Association of Deer Management Groups succinctly stated that we can have both: “Deer do better in a better environment. There is plenty of evidence for that even in Scotland, particularly in the southwest, where the biggest red deer in Scotland are to be found in woodlands. If hill-born deer find their way into woods, the condition of the herd will improve considerably in a single generation.”

Deerstalking is an important part of the Scottish upland economy and of the Cairngorms. However, in a landscape that covers seven per cent of Scotland there must be a way for us to restore ecosystems that deliver biodiversity gains, achieve natural regeneration of our native woodlands, deliver climate change outcomes and at the same time provide a high-quality resource for deerstalking.

The 1992 report may be of its time but we need to learn from what has or has not happened over the past 25 years and we still need to work in partnership with some common sense to deliver for the Cairngorms. ● Grant Moir is CEO of Cairngorms National Park Authority. He tweets at @cairngormsceo