The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) has today welcomed the publication of the final report from the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project (LMDP). The LMDP ran between 2008 and 2016 with the aim of re-establishing Langholm Moor as a driven grouse moor, while simultaneously meeting raptor conservation objectives.
The project produced some rigorous science which has strongly highlighted the benefits of management practices associated with grouse shooting. Unfortunately, grouse numbers were unable to recover to harvestable levels due to being held at low density by sustained predation and the fact that Langholm is an isolated area of heather moorland.
BASC Scotland director, Dr Colin Shedden, said: “The final Langholm report clearly highlights some of the outstanding benefits associated with grouse management for raptors and upland waders. It has also highlighted the exceptional work undertaken by grouse managers to preserve heather moorland which is an internationally rare habitat.
“The economic credentials highlighted in this report are most impressive and echo the findings of a Scottish Government report published in 2018, which suggested that the grouse shooting sector contributes £14.5 million in wages and £23.3 million to the Scottish economy. The annual contribution of more than £244,000 over the course of this project is outstanding, and is representative of the level of investment on other, similar-sized grouse moors in Scotland. This substantial investment by grouse moor owners has profound benefits for biodiversity, jobs and fragile rural economies at no expense to the tax payer.”
This article originally appeared on www.politics.co.uk