Multi-Purpose Moorlands

Apparently bleak and unused, yet moorlands are able to support a surprising range of different uses, and these can thrive alongside each other. A typical range of management objectives on a single area of moorland would include:

Grazing – sheep, cattle and deer
Sporting – grouse shooting and deer stalking
Recreation – walking and wildlife tourism
Ecosystem services - water gathering and carbon sequestration
Wildlife conservation – birds, mammals, insects and plants

Moorland managers are constantly striving for the “win-win” scenario where all the different uses work together and are self sustaining. Sustainability requires one or two key income producing enterprises, for instance shooting, stalking or grazing, which can then pay for resident gamekeepers or farmers to look after the habitat and control predators. This enables other wildlife to thrive, which is valued by recreational visitors who spend money and contribute to the local economy and community. A viable community will encourage good managers to stay and bring up their families within that community and “keep the skills in the hills". While the moor is being well managed and erosion and wildlfires are being prevented, collection of clean water and the build up of peat to store carbon can continue unseen.

But this self-sustainability is fragile. The other side of the coin is a spiral of decline when there is insufficient income to pay for management, followed by loss of wildlife, habitat deterioration and erosion of communities. In the past this spiral of decline often led to abandonment or conifer afforestation, as it had no other viable economic use. South West Scotland and Wales are typical of areas where this has happened.

Maintaining a perfect balance for all the different uses is difficult. It takes long term investment in the management and infrastructure, practical skills and government policies which are flexible enough to allow the right balance to be found on each individual moor.

In 2002 Scotland’s Moorland Forum was established to bring together all the different interest groups and to help the Government to develop best practice and policy. It has published useful guides and sponsored research.

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