This Revive Manifesto sets out policies that we believe the next Scottish Parliament should address if it is serious about tackling climate change, land reform, social justice, protecting Scotland’s wildlife and biodiversity.
Scotland’s Grouse Moors: Background
Heather moorlands that are sometimes regarded as an iconic part of the Scottish landscape are, in reality, highly modified habitats managed to encourage high populations of one species, red grouse, so they can be killed for fun in the course of recreational shooting.
Mass outdoor medication
To try to encourage a consistently high population density of grouse available to kill, one of the intensification methods adopted since the 1980s has been the use of outdoor medication on a massive scale to reduce the incidence of parasitic worm and thus ‘override’ the red grouse’s natural and cyclical ‘boom and bust’ population crashes.
Tracks, roads and fencing
Off-road constructed vehicle tracks (often referred to as ‘hilltracks’) can ease access for land management purposes but can also have major visual and environmental impacts, particularly on the wilder landscapes for which Scotland is so highly-regarded.
Fewer Jobs
Huge swathes of Scotland are managed for grouse shooting – somewhere around half the size of Wales – at the expense of our people, our wildlife and the environment. It’s time to unlock our land’s potential with a mosaic of better alternatives.
