CAMPAIGNERS have called plans by a conservation charity to build fencing near the top of a popular Munro “insane” and have called on them not to ignore experts' warnings.
The John Muir Trust (JMT) is proposing to install fencing around Schiehallion, Perthshire, to keep grazing animals away from saplings as they plan to introduce montane willow to the mountain.
However, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Away With The Fairies campaign group, which opposes those plans, experts from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) have raised concerns over the project.
Campaigners said the idea undermines the charity’s role as a protector of Scotland’s wild places and claim it’s “insanity” to attempt to grow trees on the upper reaches of the 1083m-high mountain.
Claiming: “There are no such fences at 3000ft-plus in Scotland.”
NTS has been restoring mountain woodland on the nearby Ben Lawers for more than 30 years and according to the FOI the team there has warned of the difficulty of hammering fenceposts into Schiehallion’s rocky high ground.
The team also highlighted the challenges of getting equipment and crews up the mountain along with the unforgiving conditions at high altitude which they reportedly said would make maintaining any fencing difficult.
“Most of the lower sections should be ok, but the high altitude areas might be a problem,” the FOI reportedly read.
“Many contractors will just not want to do it, or will not know how to price it, or will not want to put their name to what they see as a doomed or unsightly fence, or just find it too ludicrous a proposition.”
Victor Clements, a campaigner for Away With The Fairies, said the JMT should listen to NTS’s experts' advice.
“Everyone we know of has been telling John Muir Trust that this fence was a bad idea from the outset,” he told The Courier.
“And everyone has been telling them to plant trees further down the mountain.
“There are no such fences at 3000ft-plus in Scotland.
“The National Trust for Scotland have more experience of these things than anyone else, and the John Muir Trust should have listened to them.”
A spokesperson for the NTS said: “The National Trust for Scotland team at Ben Lawers shared some feedback around the plans for Schiehallion from a practical perspective, in relation to fencing in challenging environments.
“This is based on their experience and insights gathered over decades of nature regeneration work.”
The JMT said it has more than 40 years of experience managing land for conservation and that fences are only used as a last resort.
“It is not our preferred solution,” a spokesperson told The Courier.
“A fence is required on East Schiehallion to protect naturally regenerating saplings – not planted trees – from the destructive grazing of sheep that wander onto the land.”
The spokesperson added nearly half of the new livestock fence at East Schiehallion would upgrade existing fencing.
“We work closely with a range of contractors who are ready to install the fencing in line with plans,” they added.
“And, following approvals granted by NatureScot, scoping work will now begin.
“The fence will be funded through donations and funds designated for the purpose.”
A spokesperson for the trust added they “wondered” how the campaign group's words and actions align to protect the future of Scotland’s landscape.
“We are dedicated to the protection and conservation of wild places,” they said.
“And our focus on East Schiehallion is the nature-based regeneration of a crucial mountain woodland for present and future generations.
“We wonder how the words and actions of the ‘Away with the Fairies’ campaign align with a desire to protect the future of Scotland’s unique and fragile habitats.”
