| OUR POLICIES
Turning research into legislation Scotland
by Adam Smith, Director Scotland and Alastair Leake, Director of Policy
We had a good farming year at our Scottish
Demonstration Project at Auchnerran and hosted a number of visits with people interested to find out more about the challenges we face. © Marlies Nicolai/GWCT
Predation control for conservation and the contribution of land managers, was highlighted by the Understanding Predation report. We successfully informed the grouse shooting debate at Westminster. Our Auchnerran farm focused attention on the role of integrated farming and game conservation in supporting biodiversity.
Conservation and land management at times struggled to find a space among the debates over some truly international issues in Scotland in 2016. However, policy- making continued and the Trust’s approach was to research and present the factual evidence of what we need from our countryside, and what farming, forestry and shooting can deliver. A consistent theme has been how private landowners are not being fully supported to deliver these goals. This message was relayed in consultation on the Land Reform (Scotland) Act, the Cairngorms National Park Plan and when we gave evidence at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood on the modest performance of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The idea that practitioners have valuable ‘local’ knowledge on conservation of
key species such as black grouse and wading birds was at the core of Understanding Predation, an important report from Scotland’s Moorland Forum, which we steered and contributed to. The report identified a strong overlap between insight from local knowledge and peer-reviewed research on these species. It provided a strong base from which to undertake work with Scottish Natural Heritage. We began work on the Principles of Moorland Management best practice moorland management guidance and reviews of snaring and trapping, notably the replacement of the spring (Fenn) trap. We would like to thank our members and colleagues in other organisations for their support on these projects.
Our positions and insight into upland management, prepared with the combined
efforts of the policy, research and public relations teams, were central to informing the debate over grouse shooting at Westminster in October. Upland conservation faced a real threat from partial, imbalanced lobbying. Had we left this unchallenged in raptor conferences and in front of politicians, the management that supports heather, mountain hares and golden plover, as well as red grouse could easily have been unjustifiably suppressed. We look forward to a debate that is more about developing better practice in the future. Such better practice includes our work on delivering practical conflict resolution. Although there remains much work to be done at the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project, the announcement of the Hen Harrier Joint Action Plan by Defra signals a clear intent to balance the needs of raptor and moorland conservation through better and novel practice. Better practice is also the theme of the GWCT Scottish Demonstration Farm at
Auchnerran in Aberdeenshire. On the back of one of the farm’s best recent farming years, our farm manager was able to speak to the BBC with increasing confidence and we started the process of bringing Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to the farm. For those MSPs unable to travel to Aberdeenshire we brought a ‘pop-up’ farm to the GWCT Scottish Game Fair. We attracted 30,000 visitors, including six MSPs and the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy to a celebration of sporting and land management; a fitting tribute to David Noble in his final year as fair director. Our
8 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2016
www.gwct.org.uk
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