The Thinking of Managers

This blog has always shown great respect for conservationists, of course. Where would we be without them?

Well, anyway some more interesting evidence of the thinking and judgement typical of those working in land management, conservation and wildlife - as heard yesterday - directly relating to Blacka Moor.

A sparsely attended meeting held in central Sheffield yesterday was part of the consultation being run by Eastern Peaks Partnership, the consortium jointly set up by RSPB and National Trust. They aim to manage Sheffield Moors as well as the PDNPA's. A member of the audience asked what was going to be done about the small herd of red deer on Bigmoor (he clearly was a bit behind the times and didn't know about those on Blacka Moor and elsewhere). The answer that came back was thus: more recently the managers have decided that the deer actually do some good to the landscape and are beneficial and anyway people like to see them.

If you think about that answer you may start to understand the exasperation I feel at times about these people. Here we have a native animal that has been around on our landscape as long as man and a grand and impressive and heart warming sight to behold. And they have to think twice about whether they allow this beast to stay! While all the time they are artificially engineering changes to habitats to attract corn buntings and lapwings, sometimes doing so by importing cows, which deposit more messy dung per day than deer do in a month, or miserable looking sheep covered in untidy and visually displeasing splashes of dye.

Yet ask a typical Sheffield Councillor, as I did, what he thinks (there is some evidence that some of them do) and he will tell you that the place 'has to be managed'. Could he just be repeating what you hear on all broadcast countryside programmes, impeccably coordinated and orchestrated for the better brainwashing of the masses?