Mountaineering Council of Scotland members will have a chance to quiz one of the Highlands’ most controversial land managers at the group’s annual gathering.
Glenmore Lodge, venue for the gathering
Hugh Fullerton-Smith, general manager of the Allerdale Wilderness Reserve, will address the gathering next month. Mr Fullerton-Smith’s boss Paul Lister has incurred the wrath of many mountaineers and walkers by proposing to fence off a huge tract of the Highlands to allow the introduction of wolves and other wild animals.
The man charged with creating and maintaining the Alladale reserve has a name straight out of the directory of land-owning English gentry, but is actually New Zealand born. He has been involved with a deer and bison estate at Hornby Castle in North Yorkshire and has also worked in northern Alberta and South Dakota, as well as helping nomadic groups in Mongolia.
Mr Fullerton-Smith will step into the lion’s den – or lynx’s lair – when he speaks to the membership of the MCofS following its annual general meeting next month. He could face fierce criticism for the fact that his estate owner wants to exclude walkers and climbers from the 9,300 hectares (23,000 acres) of land near Croich, to enable a massive electric fence to be constructed to keep in the wolves, brown bears and lynx that are planned should he get the go-ahead.
Mr Fullerton-Smith’s wife Isla manages The Lodge on the estate.
The annual gathering of the MCofS will take place on Saturday 6 September at Glenmore Lodge, the national mountaineering centre. There will be an on-the-hill seminar for members by Graeme Garner, field ornithologist with the British Trust for Ornithology in Scotland. This should help walkers and climbers identify mountain birds.
The AGM starts at 4.30pm and will be followed by an open forum, Mr Fullteron-Smith’s talk and then a hog roast. If that doesn’t tempt mountaineers, there’s free camping and a free beer-tasting session put on by Cairngorm Brewery.
Proceedings wind up with a ceilidh.
Details are on the Mountaineering Council of Scotland website.
alan.sloman
18 August 2008It's a great shame that Paul Lister cannot be there in place of his unfortunate Land Manager. This chap is being sent as the fall-guy. Will there be a question and answer session at the end of his address?
Guest
19 August 2008Why wouldn't responsible ramblers mix well with wolves, bears and dinosaurs anyway? I say put a bunch of ramblers in there with the rest of the wild animals, they are also an endangered species after all. Only vegetarian ones though, as the meat eating species might eat all the bears for picnics. However, electric fences won't stop the latter, as they can eat through any defences. Best keep the whole business a secret, preferrably on a Scottish island towed to somewhere near Iceland.
The Piglit
19 August 2008Hog roast? Count me out! But seriously - this whole scheme is more crackers than christmas. The proposed animal inhabitants are bound to get out and be a hazard to other wildlife and people not to mention of course, themselves. Though the idea of keeping the owner behind a fence seems worth consideration
Guest
20 August 2008Way some humans behave, the bears and wolves and Lynx think we are a bunch of Frankenstein's monsters whom should be kept behind bars. Therefore, we shouldn't criticise just on the basis of safety. Rats and mice and squirrels pose a much greater threat to our health than a few well fed fluffies. After all, in Canada and Alaska and Russia, people live side by side with the wild. What on earth are we scared of boys and girls, a little excitement on a walk? Keep fit with the bears and wolves I say.
Mike Franklin
26 August 2008I can't believe the fuss about this whole thing - I live just down the road and am a keen hillwalker and climber. However I am quite prepared to loose a little bit of the vast Higland area that is only infrequently visited by walkers anyway if there is even the slightest chance that in a hundred years or so it might get back to it's original natural environment. I know they need more land and are trying to get it but it will still have little impact on walkers. Check out where it is I think you will find that there is one back access (not the main access) to a Munro and possibly one Corbett involved. Remember what you see today is a completely artificial environment created around 200 years ago by the ellimination of pretty much any larger animals with the exception of the red deer and the resulting overpopulation of red deer has preety much destroyed the original environment - heather should reaaly be a minority plant throughout most of the higlands. As to worries about the animals themselves - all of them instinctively will try to avoid humans so I'm not sure that it is really necessary to exclude us from the estate except for the typical British nanny state system. Try going climbing/hill walking in some of the American Rockies parks - over there it is YOUR responsibility to avoid dangerous animals such as bears not the park's and they seem to manage just fine. Just because we haven't had any large predators in this country for some considerable time we seem to be totally paranoid about the whole idea of allowing any back in. I say more power to Paul Lister and his ambitious scheme - this is the kind of forward thinking development of our wilderness that we should all encourage.
Guest
28 August 2008Whats the point? "Guest", pro Alladale can remain anonymous, but I can't!! I will be informing the meeting at Aviemore how unbiased you are!!!
outsider
03 October 2008i have been watching the tv program and think what you are doing is fantastic. the idea of bears lynx and wolves roaming free is great.