ADMG comments on Land Reform Review Group Report

The Land Reform Review Group has published its final report to the Scottish Government today. Running to more than 230 pages with 62 recommendations, the report goes into detail on topics including community land ownership, changes to the current tax system, and ways towards a ‘fairer distribution’ of land ownership.

The report addresses deer and deer management in some detail, and makes a number of recommendations over and above those as a result of the recent inquiry of the Rural Affairs Environment and Climate Change Committee, most notably the setting of culls by SNH, and that all landowners would have to apply to SNH for consent to cull deer. The report says:

The Review Group considers that Scotland’s populations of native red and roe deer are important national assets that should be sustainably managed in the public interest. The Group recommends that improvements should be made to the current statutory framework governing the hunting of deer in Scotland to ensure appropriate culls are carried out to adequately safeguard public interests.

The report however is not up to date in its conclusions on deer populations, nor with regard to the close working between SNH, ADMG and the Collaborative Deer Management Project that will underpin sustainable deer management under the voluntary principle going forward. Nor did the Land Reform Review Group consult with or take evidence from ADMG in the drawing up of its report or recommendations despite ADMG’s offer to do so.

For the full Land Reform Review Group document:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Review/land-reform/events/FinalReport23May2014

 

 

ADMG welcomes future funding support

ADMG encouraged by Minister’s response to RACCE Committee regarding ongoing deer management and future funding support

Richard Cooke, Chairman, The Association of Deer Management Groups, says:

ADMG is very encouraged by the constructive tone of the letter from Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, to Rob Gibson, Convener of the Rural Affairs Climate Change and Environment (RACCE) Committee in response to the Committee’s recommendations following its inquiry into deer management and the environment last year. In particular, ADMG welcomes the provision of grant funding for the next two years to support the deer sector.

It has long been stated that there is a strong public interest element to deer management and the provision of funding support for DMGs marks a breakthrough in terms of recognition of this by the Scottish Government.

In terms of improving their performance, many DMGs have made good progress to date with limited resources. Now, following the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act, the implementation of the Deer Code and the inquiry by the RACCE Committee, considerable pressure has been placed on DMGs to raise their game. This includes the production and implementation of deer management plans, greater transparency and public accountability. Many of our members are already achieving this in all or part, but others are less well advanced – and we have until end 2016 to bring those up to speed.

To this end we are currently undertaking a consultation among our membership to produce a DMG Benchmark to be launched in July. Now, this extra funding to be administered by SNH and which DMGs will be required to match-fund, will allow DMGs to increase capacity, and to further enhance deer management planning. It also bridges the funding gap until the new SRDP comes on stream in 2016 when we hope that provision will be made for more formalised and ongoing support for DMGs.”

ADMG launches consultation on Benchmark for Deer Management Groups at AGM

The Association of Deer Management Groups, the representative body for those who manage Scotland’s upland wild deer, has launched a consultation on a Benchmark for Deer Management Groups at its Annual General Meeting today (Thursday 20 February) at Kingussie.

The voluntary basis of management of Scotland’s wild deer has been under scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Climate Change and Environment Committee (RACCE) which held an inquiry into deer management and the impact of deer on the environment.  The Committee has recently sent its report to the Minister.  This stops short of recommending a regulated approach and acknowledges progress by DMGs but states that bringing all Groups up to standard is a matter of urgency, suggesting a deadline of the end of 2016.

The Benchmark is intended to provide detailed guidance to Deer Management Groups on how they should operate effectively.  It will form part of the Joint Collaborative Deer Management Project which ADMG is undertaking along with Scottish Natural Heritage.

Richard Cooke, Chairman of the Association of Deer Management Groups says:

“We are putting the ADMG draft Benchmark out to consultation to all our Member DMGs because it is crucial that they understand what they need to do if the voluntary basis of deer management is to be considered fit for purpose and to continue into the future.  It is targeted mainly at the Deer Groups that now exist across the open hill red deer range.

“The Benchmark outlines how DMGs should operate.  It covers membership, meetings, constitution; a commitment to deer management planning, adherence to the Code of Practice on Deer Management and the ADMG Principles of Collaboration; counting, cull planning and habitat condition monitoring; also training and having a communications plan.

“While many DMGs will have no problem in attaining what will be required, or indeed already do so, other Groups have a lot of ground to make up and need to take on board that this cannot be ignored and that urgent action is required.  ADMG will provide whatever support is needed to help them do so by providing training, advice and mentoring.

“The crux of the situation is that unless we can prove that the voluntary system can not only deliver the individual and collective objectives of DMG members but also meet the expectations of Government, then a statutory system remains a real possibility.”

Response from the Association of Deer Management Groups – Effective Deer Management

In response to the recommendations to the Minister for Environment and Climate Change from the Scottish Parliament Rural Affairs and Climate Change Committee, and following its inquiry into deer management and the environment In Autumn last year, Richard Cooke, Chairman of the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG) said:

“We are encouraged by the recommendations from the Committee to the Minister, and there is much in this report with which we agree, for example that the impacts of deer rather than numbers are most important, and that it is premature to undertake a review of the Code of Practice on Deer Management at this time.

“We also agree with the recommendation that the voluntary deer management system must become more effective in terms of deer management planning, transparency and accountability.

“Whilst there are many Deer Management Groups (DMGs) that are exemplary in what they do there are a number that, for one reason are another, do not attain the required level of performance. We know that there has to be improvement in certain quarters and, even before the inquiry began last Autumn, we had actively begun the process to effect this.

“We have plans to bring those Groups that are not performing up to speed, to improve commitment to and delivery of deer management plans and to ensure that DMGs are more transparent and their communications enhanced where necessary. We have a major initiative being finalised now that will be launched for consultation at our AGM on 20 February, and this will lead to appropriate steps to be taken where required.

“We note the timeframe as laid down in the report for all DMGs to have deer management plans in place by end 2016. This fits with our own thinking and we believe is a realistic deadline.

“Overall, and as said at the time, we consider the RACCE Committee inquiry to have been fair and even-handed. This outcome is evidence of that, and provides us with a range of areas going forward where we can demonstrate improvement. We will continue to work with Government and its Agencies to show that the voluntary system, with their appropriate support, can be entrusted to deliver.”

Ends

First detailed map of Scotland’s native woodlands – FCS launch

Richard Cooke, Chairman of both the Association of Deer Management Groups and the Lowland Deer Network Scotland said:

“This new piece of work will be extremely helpful in focusing deer management on areas where there are specific issues in relation to deer and native woodlands.

“We do believe however that there has been a significant turnaround in the last 30 years in the impacts of deer on native woodland and it is too easy to blame deer at every turn when other factors, for example grazing from other herbivores and now widespread tree disease, are also taking their toll.

“FCS is a major participant in the deer management sector in Scotland both across the upland red deer range and in low ground areas where considerable new planting is being undertaken. Let’s not forget that deer are also an asset, and that a balance must be struck taking into account environmental, economic and social factors.

“The conclusion we draw is that effective deer management planning is vital particularly at the early stages of any planting or regeneration programme in order to reduce impacts, and making use of all available tools, including fencing. That is nothing new.

“From the deer management perspective it is all too easy to focus on the negatives – there is much on the positive side that we can draw from this new dataset also.”

New Year’s honour for Scotland’s Venison Ambassador

Pioneering venison ambassador, Nichola Fletcher, of Reediehill Deer Farm in Fife, has been awarded an MBE for her services to the venison industry.

An award-winning food writer, Nichola has worked tirelessly to educate people about venison, its health aspects as well as how to prepare and cook it. Having worked with both wild and farmed venison for over forty years, she is regarded as Britain’s pre-eminent expert on all aspects of venison.

On hearing that she had been awarded the MBE, Nichola said:

“When you spend your life trying to make people listen to you, it’s sometimes quite a surprise when you discover that someone actually was listening after all!  I am just thrilled that my work with venison should have been so honoured and it’s great to be working in an area I feel so passionately about.  There’s still so much for people to learn about venison and I’m always trying to place it at the forefront of peoples’ minds.”

Originally trained as a goldsmith (a skill she still practices), Nichola’s work with venison started when she met and married Dr John Fletcher, a specialist deer vet and pioneer of deer farming in Europe. Together they started Fletchers of Auchtermuchty which became a by-word for seriously good venison amongst enthusiastic foodies all over the country.  The farm went on to act as a model for venison farms across the world.

A diverse range of people and organisations across the UK and internationally have benefitted from Nichola’s help: from national bodies like Scottish Natural Heritage or the Ministry of Defence to individual stalkers and member of the general public.

Nichola continues to run tailored venison and game tastings, cookery demonstrations and practical workshops. She acts as a consultant for venison businesses and is available for writing and broadcasting commissions on the subject.

Nichola Fletcher is a member of the Guild of Food Writers and has written seven food books, including Nichola Fletcher’s Ultimate Venison Cookery which won the award for the best single-subject cookery book in the world in 2007.

Report on the Deer Management Debate at the Rural Affairs Climate Change and Environment Committee – 20 November 2013

The RACCE Committee of the Scottish Parliament met this week for its second session gathering evidence on deer management and the environment. The panel consisted of Robbie Kernahan (SNH), Simon Hodge (Forest Enterprise Scotland) Will Boyd Wallis (Cairngorms National Park Authority) and Professor John Milne (former chairman of DCS).

As in the previous session the range of questions was broad – deer numbers; the impact of deer on designated sites and features as well as the impact of other herbivores; whether a licensing scheme for DMGs would work; the effectiveness of existing legislation and the Code; inclusiveness and transparency of DMGs and, ultimately, whether the current voluntary deer management system is working.

Numbers of deer inevitably received some attention although both Robbie Kernahan and John were keen to stress that impacts were of far greater importance. Robbie Kernahan said that his calculation of the deer population needed to achieve the present level of sporting cull of around 15,000 stags per annum was 112,000 stags, 112,000 hinds and around 33,000 calves – 257,000 total. His written evidence includes a table of the most recent SNH aerial deer counts showing a total of 275,000.

Nigel Don MSP wanted to know more about discrete deer populations, how far they would migrate and whether a map existed to show where these populations were. It was explained that, broadly speaking, DMGs had been set up to reflect discrete local populations and that the overall range is best illustrated by the ADMG map

John Milne cited Caenlochan as a situation where a sub-population was being managed, and that effective management locally was more important than attempting to manage red deer across Scotland as a whole.

Simon Hodge said that the some 9 per cent of Scotland was managed under the National Forest Estate, and this accounted for around one third of Scotland’s total deer cull.

Robbie Kernahan said that a key role of SNH, and for ADMG, was to help deer groups come to terms with how they could reconcile different and often conflicting objectives. The role of DMGs was changing from where their primary task had been jointly to agree and execute their cull to meeting a range of objectives in both their own and the public interest including carbon sequestration and climate change as well as environmental and conservation targets. He said that DMGs should provide a framework for mature discussion, compromise and consensus with all members having a shared responsibility.

There was concern that the environmental voice alongside others representing the public interest was not getting a welcome or a fair hearing at DMGs, to which Robbie Kernahan said that “a significant cultural shift” had taken place and that there were many examples of good DMGs.

Will Boyd Wallis said that he too had seen dramatic change over the last 20 years, and there was now a far greater “spirit of trust, understanding and cooperation” and that ADMG’s recently published guiding principles had been a very positive step forward.

 

Simon Hodge echoed this, but suggested it might be helpful to have broader representation at DMG meetings, including farming and crofting interests. Will Boyd Wallis suggested that DMGs might consider an AGM that members of the wider public could attend. Robbie Kernahan said that ADMG was providing the lead nationally, and what was required was the capacity within DMGs in turn to become more effective.

There was some discussion over whether enough DMGs had deer management plans and whether those that did actually used them. Angus Macdonald MSP suggested a licensing system to censure those that did not do so, although it was questioned how such a system could work in practice.

Rob Gibson MSP, the Committee Chairman, revisited his correspondence with Corrour where a figure of 55 deer per sq km had been cited. Robbie Kernahan however called this a “snapshot in time” and that there was a danger in reading too much into a single figure as this would by no means represent an average over the ground which is very much less in that area.

Jim Hume MSP wanted to know about how the impact of deer on designated sites and features was assessed and evaluated. Robbie Kernahan said that in a Scottish context over 80 per cent of features were in stable or improving condition although some concerns remained for certain areas of woodland and peatland SACs. However it would be unreasonable to expect a 100 per cent record. The Scottish Government target is 95 per cent. There had been progress over the last three years. LINK had said that to have a deer management plan would constitute enough to change the status of a site to ‘recovering’, However Robbie Kernahan said that whilst a plan was important, the vital element was that management prescriptions as outlined in the plan were being deployed.

In response to a question from Angus Macdonald MSP, Robbie Kernahan said that SNH resources had to be channeled into areas at most risk such as designated sites or in the public interest (such as RTAs). Priorities were resource driven, and that not all issues were in relation to red deer (for example 350 roe deer had been shot in one year on Mar Lodge).

Simon Hodge said that roe accounted for 40 per cent of the FE cull, red deer 40 per cent, and other species the balance. John Milne said that roe were an increasing issue with the planting of new woodlands particularly through the Central Belt. Cara Hilton MSP raised the question of effective deer management over low ground areas.

Alex Fergusson MSP wanted to know how effective the Code had been over its 18 months lifespan. Robbie Kernahan said that the Code placed a responsibility on all landowners although it had been dismissed in the previous evidence session as a “red herring”. Whilst it was not legally binding it did represent the first time such responsibilities had been placed on land managers.

As most DMGs only meet twice a year then the Code was still new to many but that ”the penny has dropped”. John Milne however thought the Code was “anodyne” and “not very helpful”.

A number of MSPs wanted to know why there had been no deer panels or Section 7s or 8s implemented since the Act. Robbie Kernahan gave an update, advising that only one, Mar Lodge, had been implemented since the Act, but that two new Section 7s were imminent.

He said however that Section 7s and 8s were “resource hungry” both in terms of staff time and financial cost, and the fact that there were very few implemented could be seen as a reflection that they were there as a last resort. The Caenlochan Section 7 had shown just how effective the system could be. John Milne pointed out that a Section 7 could only be deployed where there was a designated site.

Claire Baker MSP wanted to know if the current deer management system was robust enough given the wider issues of climate change and land reform.

Simon Hodge said that it was beneficial to have greater clarity of expectation on land managers, that the Code needed to be “unpacked” and that it could be used to create a more collaborative environment. ADMG’s 6 principles were vital to moving forward and achieving consensus.

It was agreed that more inclusiveness was important, and that ADMG has a key role in bringing its members up to speed. Robbie Kernahan said it would be helpful if SNH could provide more support, but that DMGs had never before been asked to be proactive about sharing what they do, publishing plans or having websites, and that there was not always the capacity within DMGs to do this. Funding for DMGs was discussed and it was advised that uptake of previous funding streams through the SRDP, because Groups could not apply, had been poor (totaling just £190,000 across 14 applications).

Rob Gibson MSP said that conversely estates should possibly be paying sporting rates for the benefit of having deer on their ground and the ability to ‘take’ them.

John Milne said that in his view the solution lay in changing the status of deer, and this would require a change in the law. Rob Gibson asked if there were other countries with a model that could be followed in Scotland. Robbie Kernahan said this had been addressed by an SNH study in 2010 and, not surprisingly, the Scottish system was unique.

Overall it was a fair debate. The majority of the panel remained in favour of the current system but that it could be improved, particularly if SNH was better resourced. The Committee gave little away although, despite the strength of evidence presented over the two sessions, they do I suspect remain highly sceptical that ‘voluntary’ can deliver, let alone that ‘voluntary’ is best. It is difficult to gauge where this goes next, but certainly the effectiveness of DMGs, the current system, and the uptake of the Code will be in the spotlight for some time to come.

ADMG describes Scottish Parliament Committee Enquiry session into the impact of deer on Scotland’s natural heritage as fair and frank

Following the first morning of the Scottish Parliament Rural, Climate Change and Environment Committee enquiry into the Review of the impact of deer on Scotland’s natural heritage, Richard Cooke, Chairman of the Association of Deer Management Groups, said that he felt the Committee had been “fair and frank” in its approach.

Questions from the Committee ranged across a number of areas in taking evidence from representatives of both NGOs and land management organisations. Richard Cooke said:

“Clearly there is a broad divergence of opinion on the actual number of red deer in Scotland that we would regard largely as an irrelevance as it is their impact and the carrying capacity of the ground that is important.

“We were keen to impress that this enquiry comes very soon, too soon, after the implementation of the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act and the supporting Code on Deer Management. It was pointed out to the Committee that the Code has not yet had 18 months to bed in, whilst the sector at the same time is engaged with other activities such as developing deer management planning and satisfying new competence expectations.”

Richard Cooke, who is also Chairman of the Lowland Deer Network Scotland, said that Deer Management Groups (DMGs) were well aware of the obligations placed on them by the Act and the voluntary Code and that ADMG is currently addressing improving the effectiveness of DMGs in a number of areas including production of up to date and forward looking deer management plans, a statement of commitment to the Code, and regular well attended meetings with representation of all land management interests and appropriate public agencies.

He said that it was reasonable to expect that every DMG that could benefit from a deer management plan should have one in place in the medium term – 5 years.  In summing up, Richard Cooke said:

“ADMG considers that the deer sector has acknowledged the challenge to demonstrate that voluntary deer management as we have now is fit for purpose and, taken as a whole, we are making steady progress in implementing the Code at DMG level.  This is evidenced by the majority of DMGs and sub groups that are preparing or reviewing deer management plans and are in the process of bringing deer management and environmental impacts together in implementing habitat assessments.

“DMG meetings must be open to all those with a direct interest in local deer management and ADMG is encouraging member groups to set up liaison arrangements with external interests and local community interests in particular – in response to the Act and the Code, and prior to the implementation of this enquiry.  ADMG is therefore confident that, when the Code comes to be reviewed by SNH then good and continuing progress will be demonstrable.”

Also giving evidence for the land management organisations were Scottish Land & Estates and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association. RSPB Scotland, JMT and the Scottish Wildlife Trust gave evidence for the NGOs.