SCOTLAND's uplands are being damaged by "poorly-targeted public subsidies" according to a leading wildlife charity, which called for major changes in the political and physical management of the hills.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust has published its own alternative plan, which includes financial incentives to encourage "environmental stewardship" and new regulations governing the management of deer and upland grouse moors. 
In its publication ‘Living Landscapes in the Scottish Uplands’, the trust recommends the incorporation of Ecosystem Health Indicators and Natural Capital Valuations into all relevant policy instruments, and the reform of subsidy regimes for upland sheep and cattle farming to encourage low stocking densities and ‘agro-forestry’ systems.
The organisation, which has 35,000 members and more than 120 reserves throughout Scotland, also calls for financial incentives for 'low-impact' forest management in commercial upland plantations, and the re-introduction of species such as Eurasian beaver and Eurasian lynx. 
Its director of conservation, Susan Davies, said: “With a shift in public attitudes and changes in how we manage our land, we could transform Scotland’s uplands. Sadly, our uplands are currently under threat on a landscape scale from a wide range of pressures including intensive land management, invasive species and poorly-targeted public subsidies. This is bad for wildlife, bad for communities and bad for Scotland.
“Changing our relationship with the natural environment in the uplands could reverse the decline in wildlife and habitats, and ensure that the uplands can deliver a wider range of benefits, including natural flood risk management, enhanced opportunities for tourism and recreation, and high-quality sustainably produced food. 
“We aim to show leadership in this area by addressing these issues on our three upland reserves, Largiebaan, Rahoy Hills and Ben Mor Coigach,” she added.
Graeme Dey MSP, convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, commented: “The worsening impacts and incidents of flooding, the debate around grouse shooting and the management of moorland to accommodate this, the pressing need to plant more trees, and the fact the deer management issue is coming to a head make the timing of this report very apt.
“Living Landscapes in the Scottish Uplands represents a positive contribution to the discussions we need to have around the future role of our uplands and I look forward to working with the Scottish Wildlife Trust and others in a co-operative way to secure real and appropriate progress.’’
Responding to the SWT publication, a spokesman for the Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: “The number and diversity of declining species producing young successfully on grouse moors managed by gamekeepers, each year, stands test with any land holding or nature reserve in Scotland whilst, at the same time, sustains thousands of full-time wages which keep adults and their children in remote communities.
“These communities are founded and rooted by viable employment, not remote visions," insisted the SGA.
“With many moors already working on projects to restore peat, plant trees and improve habitat over vast areas of upland Scotland, further regulation will only be counter-productive and hinder rather than help these beneficial partnerships and combined initiatives SWT appear to be promoting.
“It would be better for volunteer charities, and government, to work together with the economic employer industries in the uplands to achieve shared goals."