National Treasures
Hear from the CEOs of Scotland’s two National Parks
DURING lockdown people flocked to Scotland’s great outdoors in their droves. Many discovering for the first time its wonderful therapeutic value. We asked the CEOS of Scotland’s National Parks how the pandemic has affected them.
IT’S no wonder that Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park has always been a popular place to visit.
Our magnificent landscapes lie within an hour’s drive of half of Scotland’s population, and are visited by more than four million people each year.
Growing visitor numbers from the UK and abroad has increased economic benefits. Finding ways to protect our fragile natural habitats while encouraging people to get outdoors is what National Parks were set up to do.
The onset of the pandemic and the immediate post-lockdown situation has had significant economic consequences and has changed the usual visitor profile.
As lockdown came in early spring, the National Park was initially a quiet place. While people weren’t able to visit in person, our staff found ways to bring Loch Lomond & The Trossachs to them via the #Lochdown campaign.
From online ranger home-schooling lessons, to mesmerising drone footage of our lochs, to camping-athome challenges, we found ways to bring the National Park to life, while asking people to stay away.
June was particularly challenging. Most of our visitor facilities and local businesses were required to be closed, yet we still had visitors arriving, despite the lockdown travel restrictions. We invested time in reassuring anxious local communities, listening to local businesses to understand their challenges, while facilitating dialogue with MSPS on the support needed.
Tourism was officially able to reopen mid-july, and we adapted our facilities safely for what would be a busier and longer season than ever before.
While we did see inconsiderate behaviours from some, it’s important to recognise how the National Park has helped people cope with life during the pandemic. How best to build on this, while supporting a green recovery is now our key focus.
We’ve also stayed focussed on tackling the climate emergency and nature crisis through peatland restoration projects, our Mission Zero route map – getting the organisation to net zero emissions – and Wild Park nature projects. We supported green recovery with £100k of grants and visitor site investments.
This year demonstrated more than ever the important role National Parks can play placing the environment at the heart of recovery and supporting personal wellbeing.
“The cope” National Park helped people
THE Cairngorms National Park is the UK’S largest and is visited by more than two million people each year. This past year, however, has been a year like no other.
The first lockdown affected people’s ability to travel to and enjoy the National Park, while the relaxing of lockdown in July saw a huge number of people wanting to come and enjoy the landscapes.
The ongoing impacts of Covid-19 on residents and the local economy have been significant, especially for the hospitality industry.
We responded to the challenges of Covid-19 in many different ways but always in a spirit of partnership. We developed the #Cairngormstogether banner with the Cairngorms Business Partnership and many others to focus on visitor management.
We recognised early on that people would want to come into the park as lockdown eased, so we ensured we had the best response possible in place.
Additional rangers were recruited, and we also encouraged visitors to support our communities and explore less well-known areas to ease congestion.
We are working on our visitor management plans for next year but, while there were issues around litter, fire and “dirty” camping, we should always remember that most visitors treated the countryside with respect.
The other key aspect of our work has been our Green Recovery Plan and Fund. Approved by the Board in June, this Fund supports 13 projects across the park, from campervan provisions to local community projects.
Looking to the future as we come out of the Covid-19 crisis, we are well positioned to tackle some of the big challenges like the climate emergency, the biodiversity crisis, and the need to improve the economic wellbeing of our communities.
We are conducting major programmes to restore peatlands and regenerate woodlands, and we are making strides to address species and habitat issues.
The work on economic wellbeing is also gathering pace with efforts to integrate health, nature and active lifestyles, while also looking at how we can support jobs and business as we come back from Covid-19.
The challenges we face are complex but linking nature, climate change, well-being and economic recovery is exactly what the National Parks in Scotland were set up to do.
This approach was embedded in the enlightened aims we were given 20 years ago and 2020 has proved this approach is needed now more than ever.
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We are well positioned to challenges” tackle big