Organisations back pilot plan to reduce deer densities
A coalition of landowning organisations and rural workers have backed a new Deer Management Plan.
Community Land Scotland, the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association, the John Muir Trust, Trees for Life and the RSPB have backed the Government’s commitment to piloting the new plan, to tackle the nature and climate crises while strengthening rural economies.
The plan is based on a proposal from Trees for Life and the John Muir Trust and aims to reduce deer densities across the country to enable natural regeneration at landscape scale.
The Government would step in to fund the national effort.
David Fleetwood, the John Muir Trust’s director of policy, said: “We are delighted with this announcement. Our proposed National Deer Management Plan brings together environmental charities, private, public and community landowners alongside land workers so we can deliver a restored natural environment for the whole of Scotland.
“The First Minister has been clear that he is serious about the nature and climate crisis and asked for practical solutions in his speech earlier in the year. We came to him with one of those, and we look forward to helping him deliver the plan in partnership with landowners and land workers going forward.”
The announcement comes at the same time as the Scottish Parliament is scrutinising the Natural Environment Bill. The Bill includes provisions to enable government agency NatureScot to compel reticent landowners to manage deer numbers for nature restoration.
Alan McDonnell, head of nature restoration for Trees for Life, said: “The importance of practical support for deer managers to restore nature at scale is recognised across the deer sector. This commitment from the Scottish Government is a much-welcomed step that helps explain how it will resource this policy in the long term.”
Christopher Nicholson, chairman of the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association added: “This announcement is a step in the right direction. We have heard from tenant farmers across the country that unsustainably high deer numbers are impacting livelihoods.
“Hill farmers are forced to reduce hefted sheep folk numbers due to grazing competition and disease transmission from deer while lowland farmers experience deer damage to high value cropping.
“Our members are delivering crucial elements of the public interest, from ensuring food security to developing new methods to farm sustainably.
“The National Deer Management Plan would be central to help us deliver these outcomes more efficiently. We look forward to joining environmental charities and landowners at the table to create a plan that will deliver for food production, nature, climate, and the land managers who will be at the heart of it all.”
