In our
latest blog the Trust’s Director, Anne Gray, reflects on a year in post and offers
some thoughts on the Trust’s unique role and the reasons why it needs continued
support.
I started as Director of The Heather Trust in March last
year. It’s been a year to meet people,
listen, understand, and get to grips with the opportunities and challenges the
Trust faces in the current political, policy and financial environment.
I’ve traveled to Exmoor, Powys, the Peak District twice,
Northumberland several times and across Scotland, as well as quarterly trips to
Defra in London and to corresponding upland and moorlands fora in Scotland. This has been to provide project management,
training, advice and representation work to further the interests of good
moorland management. Some weeks I’ve
barely seen home, whilst others it has been head down at my computer to plough
through consultations, correspondence and the business of keeping the Trust
running. All of this I have to say has
only been possible with the support of the small, but dedicated, Heather Trust team.
In relation to Britain’s moorlands, The Heather Trust occupies
the space between environment, rural economy and society and seeks to reconcile
the various interests involved in moorland management at a time when many moorland
management practices are being challenged.
As such, our vision is for sustainable, resilient moorlands for the benefit of
everyone.
The Trust’s watch words might be “moderation in all things”. It was formed because its founders understood
that fragile moorland and upland environments could not sustain intensive
production, whether that be grouse, sheep or anything else – there needs to be
balance. I’m told in the early days the
discussion was pretty much grouse and sheep, so perhaps ‘anything else’ didn’t
get a look in. However, the principle is
even more relevant today, when we have so many more calls on our moorland and
upland areas.
 |
| Lapwing by Garry MacLennan, Invermark |
If you read the press or follow social media however, it
appears there is precious little moderation around. In these media, the debate about moorlands
and how they are managed has probably never been more fraught. In the last year I’ve watched how polarised
debates about wildfire management, predator control, trees and rewilding,
mountain hare numbers, sport shooting and even farming have become. Not that these topics were without a range of
viewpoints before last year, but everything seems to be more entrenched and
embittered.
It used to be that science and evidence could be relied on to
get everyone back to a more objective place, but selective pieces of research are
now hurled around like brickbats in games of one-upmanship that are not
constructive. This is nowhere more
evident than in the debate about managed burning on blanket bog where some science
on specific issues such as carbon storage, vegetation response or water quality
exists, but none yet which draws the relevant threads together to give the
complete picture.
This could all be very depressing and make a moderate wish
to simply pack-up and go home. However, I
don’t think these media fairly represented who most of us are and, if we are to
end the impasse and move forward with these issues – and we surely need to, then
it will require people and organisations, such as The Heather Trust, that can
bridge the chasm to make it happen.
What is truly at the heart of these issues is how society
deals with environmental concerns such as climate change, water management and biodiversity
losses. In very recent weeks, with demonstrable
civil protest supported by a plethora of worrying environmental science, there
can be little doubt that these issues increasingly will be the focus of
government’s policy and legislation programme.
Land management, whether it be farming, game, forestry,
water supply or, indeed renewables is increasingly finding the spotlight shone
on it. On the one hand, I know why this
is. Land and how it is managed matters
when it comes to solving environmental problems. It is about the only sector that can sequester
and store carbon, reverse biodiversity losses and it is likely the most
cost-effective way to manage water quality and flood risk. On the other hand, that we have not in the
past always used land in ways that will achieve this is the collective
responsibility of society, and not exclusively of those who have been supported
and encouraged to grow more, feed the nation and support the rural economy. While I understand completely the
frustrations of those, especially the young, who protest and call for change,
what I find much less helpful is the criticism and blame culture that seems to
be developing alongside the protests. It
is time to solve these less than straightforward issues together, and we’ll not
do it while pointing fingers.
 |
| Open Hill Highland Cattle |
One thing that the Heather Trust has long advocated and
which I am 100% behind is the idea that we need to take the best of what we
already know about managing moorlands, gleaned from both practitioners and
science and evolve it. Too often, public
policy has caused management which is not flexible enough for the local context
and which flip flops from one extreme to another. Livestock headage payments leading to overstocking
and over-grazing in some places and their universal removal leading to under-grazing
and associated issues in other places is one example. There are plenty of others and unfortunately
it is something that is still happening, and badly needs to change.
The Heather Trust is a charity, we rely on membership,
donations and on payment for work we do to facilitate discussion, reconciliation
and change. We are small and we need to
grow to be truly effective. If you
believe that the way forward for moorlands across Britain lies in resolving the
tensions between environment and economy, then we need to hear from you. We need members, but we also need ambassadors
for, and who can demonstrate, sustainable moorland management. If this is you, then get in touch.
We are always keen to work with other organisations on
collaborative projects, and again if this is you, get it touch.
I’m sure my second year at The Heather Trust will be no less
busy and challenging than my first has been, but I remain committed to the ideal
of a balanced approach and resolving tensions, and I hope you can support me in
that.
Anne Gray
Director
Director
