Caring for our beautiful countryside is a job for everyone, not just those who live there
Karen Ramoo highlights the problems rural visitors can bring
The summer has once again seen many thousands of people enjoying Scotland’s outstanding countryside.
From John O’groats to Gretna Green, the natural beauty of rural Scotland makes it a treasured destination for domestic and foreign tourists. For those who live in the countryside, caring for our land and rivers and maintaining this flow of visitors is a source of great pride.
Sadly, this beauty can sometimes be spoiled by a minority.
Now, Scottish Land & Estates has launched a new initiative called Care for the Countryside. The campaign is supported by a range of organisations, including the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Zero Waste Scotland and Police Scot- land, not to mention many farms and estates across the country.
The campaign was propelled by a desire to promote a positive message that encourages more people to visit our countryside whilst also asking those same people to help us convey why caring for rural Scotland is so important.
We and other stakeholder groups regularly hear reports from across Scotland about incidents that place a significant burden on those who manage our countryside.
Some of these topics do receive attention – Police Scotland’s efforts to tackle sheep worrying have been highlighted in recent months whilst problems stemming from wild camping around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs attracted the attention of many different commentators. Yet, there remains a need to ensure everyone can enjoy the land responsibly. The initiative is backed by publicity materials promoting safe and responsible access to the countryside, designed to increase awareness about problems that exist but often go widely unreported – and what people can do to help.
Three initial areas are a focus for the campaign.
The first is flytipping. Many farmers and landowners across Scotland will have experienced this blight, with remote areas, as well as those on urban fringes, susceptible to unscrupulous rubbish dumping. In serious cases, it can lead to a rural business liable for a bill of thousands of pounds to clean up land that has been fly-tipped. Building on the work of organisations such as Zero Waste Scotland, we are highlighting how problem waste can be safely disposed of and how those who care for our countryside can help tackle those who are intent on flytipping without any thought to the consequences.
Responsible mountain biking is the second area. Mountain biking has enjoyed a boom in popularity, and specially built trails such as Glentress and Witch’s Trails, near Fort William, have captured the public’s imagination. However, whilst the vast majority of riders who access rural land do so responsibly, landowners and land managers have experienced problems relating to unauthorised trail building.
Building tracks and features on
someone else’s land is not an activity covered by the right of access in Scotland and these trails potentially put the landowner into a situation of being found liable if a third-party injures themselves.
In deciding to build a new route or structure, there are considerations a landowner or manager would need to take into account, such as conflict with other access takers, impact on biodiversity and impact/conflict with land management practices.
In the case of unauthorised trails, none of this is possible, since the builders are unknown. However, once an owner or manager knows that such trails exist, ignoring them is not a sensible option.
In particular, unauthorised trail building presents a real danger and riders have seriously injured themselves. With the assistance of Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, we are promoting the message of safe mountain biking for all.
The final area builds on the work of Police Scotland: responsible dog ownership in the countryside.
From minor niggles, such as waste bags being discarded on trees and in bushes, to more serious problems of dogs threatening farm animals and birds – which can have serious repercussions for livelihoods – we want to make sure the responsibilities of dog owners are as readily understood as the rights to access our countryside.
We hope the campaign will help alleviate some of the persistent problems that many farmers and landowners in Scotland face and, in doing so, present the best possible experience for visitors to Scotland’s countryside.
To read more about the initiative, visit www.scottishlandandestates.co.uk. Karen Ramoo is Policy Officer (Conservation & Wildlife Management) at Scottish Land & Estates.