Look After

Deer Management

Deer are a key compnent of our diverse wildlife, serving an important function in manipulating the habitats upon which they depend by browsing, grazing and trampling. In the past, their densities, distribution and movements through the land were influenced by natural predators such as the wolf or the lynx. Today, it is up to our species to manage deer populations, to mimic the role of predators in order to achieve a diverse array of land use objectives.

The Cairngorms National Park is of a sufficient size to host a diverse array of landscapes and habitats and therefore has room to allow for habitat management objectives that suit an equally diverse array of aspirations and perspectives. Whatever the perspective, one truth holds fast: that the land, its soils and the habitats that grow upon them are the primary resource upon which everything else depends.

Landowners and land managers have been controlling grazing and monitoring the condition of the habitats they look after with a long term view of sustainability. Where significant problems have occured through deer numbers reaching densities about the habitat 'carrying capacity' a range of measures and partnership agreements between government agencies and land managers have helped resolve them. But upland habitats remain vulnerable and require continual monitoring to ensure that deer and other grazing or browsing species are managed to avoid damage occuring and to allow habitats to recover where necessary.