Scotland’s great outdoors needs a champion

The importance of our great outdoors has been more evident than ever over the past year, as the country found itself closed down and shut in to try and mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

One activity able to continue was outdoor exercise – and that sparked a huge interest in the hills, beaches, mountains and forests across Scotland.

As well as encouraging people to explore the natural wonders on their own doorstep the crowds also highlighted some of the issues facing Scotland’s great outdoors - and not just that a few people felt the need to breach travel guidelines.

Images of overcrowded car parks and small country roads jammed up with traffic highlighted a serious problem with the infrastructure around some of Scotland’s most scenic outdoor locations as the first lockdown eased last summer.

As the country begins to emerge from the pandemic and look to the future, these issues are again coming to the fore – and that is why Scotland needs an outdoor champion to help promote and protect one of it’s greatest natural assets and boost the nation’s recovery, the head of Mountaineering Scotland has said.

The Observatory for Sport in Scotland (OSS) manifesto has called for new cohesion with outdoor recreation, planning and visitor management linked in a national strategy that ties together the work of Active Scotland, Sportscotland, Nature Scotland, visitscotland, landowners and others, to build on the growth of outdoor recreation during the Covid pandemic.

And the boss of Mountaineering Scotland agrees that one of the biggest issues is the lack of an overall ‘champion’ to push different government agencies towards a strategic plan to improve public transport access, oversee the vital maintenance of under-pressure paths and walks, and boost support and investment in our great outdoors.

“We’d like to see a champion within the government for outdoor recreation,” said Stuart Younie. “It’s such a broad topic - it covers a lot of things, a lot of activities, and a lot of departments in government. Sportscotland, Visitscotland, Nature Scotland, landowners, private companies - they are all involved.

“We need cohesion to make the economic case for this, as we’re talking about a part of the country that is an essential part of tourism and Scotland’s economy, so it needs someone to champion us across agencies, and a national strategy for investment in the outdoor tourism and access infrastructure.”

Stuart has been the CEO of Mountaineering Scotland for just over three years, after 20 years working in local authority sport and recreation management, the last ten of those managing outdoor education services for a local authority.

Between lockdowns he was able to take his tally of Munros ‘bagged’ to 167, and also helped support a trip to Ben Nevis with Black Dog Outdoors, a volunteer group passionate about promoting the positive mental health benefits of outdoor exercise. As well as finding inspiration in these trips, however, Stuart also saw first hand threats to the future of Scotland’s natural wonders.

“The Ben Nevis trip was an amazing day, supporting people with mental health issues to get out to one of the most stunning sights in Scotland, and it was probably my standout day from the last year,” he said.

“It was incredibly busy though, and that is a concern when we talk about promoting Scotland’s outdoors for exercise.

“It’s a fine balance. We want as many people as possible to be able to experience these places and they should not be exclusive, but they can get very busy. The image of people queuing at the top of Everest was a good example of this globally, and on a good day at the top of Ben Nevis you will have a queue of people looking to take their picture on the summit.“so we are trying to encourage people to go to different places. The Munros will always be something people want to do, but the great thing about Scotland is that there are so many amazing and wonderful places for people to experience, and we want people to start thinking about going to places they have thought about going but haven’t.

“We enjoy one of the best access legislations possibly in the world, and that gives people the unrivalled ability to get out into the outdoors and enjoy it. But there is also the issue of how you get there. Obviously, people use their cars, which can put intense pressure on limited car parking.

“Longer term, we should be trying to move people away from their cars where we can. It’s not possible everywhere, but Loch Lomond, the Trossachs, Cairngorm National Park are starting to think about more integrated public transport shuttles, and better integrated paths and cycling networks, especially where we have high volumes of people.”

Maintenance of public paths in some of our most treasured scenic areas brings other challenges, with so much of the landscape owned by private individuals, but Stuart explains that there is a good economic case to be made for preservation. Nature-based tourism in Scotland is worth around £1.4bn to Scottish economy and supports upwards of 39,000 jobs, as well as accounting for around 40% of all tourism spending in Scotland.

“We need to make the economic case that it is good to spend money, that these areas are a driver for local economies, and so we need to preserve them for everyone in the future,” he says.

“The pandemic has helped people understand better what is on their doorstep and how it can help their quality of life, and it has enabled outdoor organisations to come together, plan and work together, in a way that we haven’t before, and that is very encouraging.

“We need to provide a high-quality visitor experience both for people in Scotland and those coming from abroad. Outdoor sport and recreation has a huge role to play in kick-starting our economy, and if we can work together, and continue to invest and improve, we can make sure we’re still seen as a place people want to come to and experience.”

One other vital partner in the potential of Scotland’s outdoors to improve our lives is the public, with education a vital component. Stories of ‘dirty camping’ and inexperienced walkers needing rescued have raised alarm bells, and just this week it emerged that a "staggering" 1,203 bags of rubbish were collected from the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in the space of a month.

Stuart insists: “The bad behaviour is down to a minority and shouldn’t be seen as the standard, but it has caused a lot of challenges for rural communities.”