The annual general meeting of the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG), the organisation representing those who manage Scotland’s upland red deer, took place at Kingussie on Friday 26 February 2016.
Attended by almost 200 deer forest managers, owners, and other representatives from the sector, there was much discussion in connection with the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and its elements relating to deer including the reintroduction of sporting rates and additional powers for Scottish Natural Heritage to intervene where the voluntary system is not working.
The meeting was also advised of the headlines of the latest PACEC report. The study was commissioned by ADMG, the Lowland Deer Network Scotland and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association to assess the current contribution of deer management to the Scottish economy. Among its conclusions were that £140.8m of expenditure in Scotland is reliant on deer management of which £43.1m is directly due to deer management activities. The study also found that there are 2,532 jobs in deer management of which 1,372 were paid, and equate to an estimated at 845 FTEs.
Time was also devoted to the forthcoming review of Scotland’s Deer Management Groups (DMGs) to take place in the autumn when DMGs will demonstrate that they have made progress on a number of fronts including delivery of sustainable deer management in the public interest.
Richard Cooke, Chairman, The Association of Deer Management Groups, said:
This was, as is customary, a very well attended meeting. The upland deer sector has clearly grasped what is expected of it in terms of making progress in having proper and workable deer management plans in place that take the public interest into account, and also making these plans available for public consultation in line with new guidelines on transparency and accountability. The majority of Groups will have their own websites with contact details and a wealth of information about how they operate up and running by the time of the assessment process.
I am extremely encouraged by the progress that the Groups have made. There has been intense pressure in political circles and beyond, and considerable misinformation continues to be spread about the sector. There are many positive aspects that we can talk about and these will become apparent as the Review gets underway.