INTERVIEW: Dealing with dirty camping at Glenmore is an ongoing challenge
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John Davidson speaks to Paul Hibberd of Forestry and Land Scotland about dealing with problem campers at Highland hotspots during the summer holidays
The summer holidays are here and with them will undoubtedly come increased pressure on the tourist hotspots around the Highlands.
Reports of irresponsible camping and dangerously parked vehicles have been flooding social media pages – as well as our own pages – while major wildfires have highlighted some of the potential dangers after a Highland heatwave.
Demand for access to the countryside has never been higher, but when the very environment that most of us head to the outdoors to enjoy is under threat, how do we square the circle?
At Glenmore, where the popular beach at Loch Morlich overlooks the Cairngorm mountains, things have gone from bad to worse.
People have been lighting fires against all sensible advice, partying on the beach and even bringing a sofa and a 4x4 onto the sand. Putting it kindly, this is a "misinterpretation" of access laws – in reality most of this extreme behaviour is downright illegal.
Paul Hibberd, regional visitor services manager for Forestry and Land Scotland, accepts there are major problems in the area and says as the landowner they are doing everything within their powers.
"Not surprisingly the good weather encourages people to get out and enjoy it," he says, "and on one hand that’s a good thing – we do want people to come out and enjoy the natural environment, enjoy the forests.
"I feel very strongly that you can’t expect people to care about the environment if they don’t get the chance to get out and enjoy it.
"We provide a considerable number of facilities in terms of car parks, trails and toilets to help people do that. But it does seem that when the weather is particularly good Glenmore attracts a higher percentage of people who cause issues."
After recent fires at Cannich, on the edge of Glen Affric, and at Daviot near Inverness, there are genuine concerns that the national nature reserve in Glenmore could be devastated.
Mr Hibberd said: "Clearly the hot weather heightens the risk of wildfire and we very much share everyone’s concerns and frustrations about the irresponsible behaviour we’ve been seeing from a minority of visitors.
"It’s a big part of the seasonal rangers' job to put over that message of no fires – we have a very clear 'no fires, no barbecues' message in Glenmore which is agreed by the national park authority and is very clearly displayed on the way into Glenmore and on-site. You can’t get onto the beach without seeing there’s a very clear 'no fires' message.
"The majority of people, of course, heed that and don’t have fires or solid fuel barbecues."
He says the FLS rangers, as well as those working for the national park, regularly patrol the area and engage with people having fires, "but obviously we are not on site 24/7 and some of those issues happen very late at night and our staff are there during the day when it’s busiest".
He also suggests that late-night discussions with visitors, who can often be fuelled by alcohol, are not desirable nor productive – and can put staff in danger.
People can also be quick to point to their rights when it comes to access, but less quick to accept their responsibilities.
On the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, Mr Hibberd says: "I think there are some aspects of the code, particularly around fires and camping, that could be clarified and strengthened to give land managers some more ability to manage the land appropriately.
"The access code overall is great, Scotland has a really positive attitude towards outdoor access; I think there is a gap between the spirit of the code and the spirit in which some people use the countryside. That could benefit from some more education, but I think it could also benefit from landowners having some more ability to control really irresponsible behaviour.
"One of the least favourite things rangers hear from irresponsible visitors is 'what are you going to do about it?' Our powers are very limited unless people cross legal lines – we’re usually talking about civil issues and that’s difficult for us to deal with."
Car parking has been another major issue in the glen, and while some of the dangerous and environmentally damaging parking spaces have been removed, it has left limited space which is less able to cope with peak demand.
FLS operates eight car parks in the glen with space for around 350 cars, but that can easily be outstripped by demand.
As an immediate measure, they are planning to open up the Hayfield as an overflow car park on the busiest days over the holidays, with a security company running the operation.
"In terms of the longer-term future, everyone really wants to help people get to places like Glenmore in a more sustainable way," Mr Hibberd said. "At the moment the vast majority of our visitors come by private car. Environmentally, that’s not great, and providing car parks costs us a lot of money, so it’s really good to see there’s a new bus service going from Aviemore into Glenmore and up the hill this year.
"We’ve also been doing some work on the Old Logging Way, which is a cycle path from Aviemore to Glenmore, and there are plans to upgrade that.
"There are certainly those who say, why don’t you just build a massive new car park? Even if we wanted to do that, environmentally that would be really inappropriate, especially in a place like Glenmore which is heavily protected. It would cause environmental damage, it would affect the visitor experience as well as the landscape, and it would be moving in the wrong direction in terms of moving towards net zero and a more sustainable society."
In the meantime, the community is calling for bye-laws to ban camping around Loch Morlich beach in order to protect the sensitive area.
On that topic, a spokesperson for Forestry and Land Scotland said: “As a responsible land manager we very much support and promote the Scottish Outdoor Access Code and we welcome those who exercise their right of responsible access to the land that we manage.
“However, the behaviour of some irresponsible people has been causing a continued range of issues, including parking issues, littering and the lighting of campfires during times of heightened wildfire risk.
“We are working closely with the Cairngorms National Park Authority, Highland Council, Police Scotland and the local community to try and resolve the issues that have arisen and we support the better management of irresponsible behaviour.”
There are no easy solutions to the ongoing problems at Glenmore – which Mr Hibberd says is FLS's most pressured site in the country. "There’s nowhere else that has to deal with the issues arising from that challenging combination of high visitor numbers and a concentration of environmental sensitivities."
However, working towards an answer could help preserve this treasured spot that is loved and cared for by local people as well as by the vast majority of people who visit for its natural beauty.
