Sustainable Deer Management A Case Study Report for the Deer ...

4. NEXT STEPS
Since SDM has the potential to positively contribute
to the outcomes of a broad spectrum of National
Strategies and provide additional site-specific public
benefits it would be appropriate for government to
consider options for supporting the process.
It would be appropriate for government to
consider options for supporting each of the key
stages of the SDM process utilising an appropriate
blend of providing information, advice and training;
promoting voluntary agreements, imposing
regulation, use of financial instruments (incentives
through to taxes), creating new markets and
instigating relevant research.
The cross-cutting objective must be to promote
the role land managers play as individuals and as
members of a DMG, and where appropriate assist
them to fulfil their role. One option would be the
development of an interactive web based tool to
provide advice, information, guidance on individual
roles and actions required of them and how they
might best go about performing these actions.
Evaluating Sustainable Deer
management
Evidence from the Case Studies suggests that land
managers are already incentivised to attain most of
the economic and environmental criteria described
as nationally important in the recently published
Scotland’s Wild Deer: A National Approach (wDNA).
This project, in addition to the legislative review of
the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, has highlighted that
deer managers, individually and collectively, would
benefit from the provision of better information,
advice and guidance on their individual roles and how
they might best go about performing these actions.
It is also clear that certain objectives listed in the
wDNA which were considered in this study to be
of additional benefit and could produce added value
with government assistance:
♦ ♦ Ensure skills, knowledge and training
development to manage deer.
♦♦
Develop the market and supply chain for
venison.
In addition the social benefits of SDM were
consistently considered as desirable across all sites.
Hence, land managers/DMGs may also benefit from
advice on communicating with the local community
through the development of best practice guidance.
Since SDM is a process rather than an endpoint the
Code of Practice for responsible deer management
proposed under the Wildlife & Natural Environment
Bill Consultation, will assist the development of
criteria based indicators which can be readily
measured by land managers. These indicators will
need to be robust and accepted by land managers,
yet relatively easy and cheap to attain. The standards
attached to these indicators would then provide the
“goal posts” for land managers to measure success/
failure against on a local basis and satisfy government
agencies that land is being managed sustainably.
Scottish Rural Development
Programme
The Scottish Government and Association of Deer
Management Groups (ADMG) should seek to
influence SRDP measures to support collaborative
planning and local capacity building.
Consideration will also have to be given to how
these measures relate to cross-compliance and the
legislative framework being proposed to bolster the
voluntary DMG approach.
Deer Management Groups
Scottish Government, in partnership with the ADMG
and their membership, need to ensure that right
blend of “carrot and stick” will:
♦ ♦ minimise government regulation and
bureaucracy
♦ ♦ encourage the DMG membership to develop
the necessary capacity
10 Sustainable Deer Management • 24.06.10 © DCS 2010 • www.dcs.gov.uk