We will soon be publishing a list of events to be held throughout the year that the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve (NNR) team will be running with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) partners.
www.solwayfirthpartnership.co.uk/Tidelines_spring-summer.pdf
Celebrating 60 years of successful partnership working Biodiversity, sustainability and partnership are familiar terms these days used by both the general public and experts alike to describe the management of our natural and cultural landscape.
However, sixty years ago, these terms were not commonly understood by those involved in conservation, farming, fishing and field sports; in many instances they found themselves in opposing camps on the economy versus environment battlefield and tended to mistrust each other’s motives. In the 1950s, understanding the link between sustainability and environmentalism was in its infancy and the idea of developing a model to maintain a balance between nature, productivity and ulture would not have been a familiar one to those who worked the land and sea or pursued leisure interests along the Nith and Solway Firth.
In 1957 the Duke of Norfolk, who owned the Caerlaverock Estate, had the ground breaking vision to create a special place where conservation, farming, fishing and wildfowling would coexist in harmony for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. The Duke approached the Nature Conservation Council (Scottish Natural Heritage’s predecessor), the Crown Estate Commissioners, and Wildfowlers Association of Great Britain and Ireland (British Association for Shooting and Conservation’s predecessor), local wildfowlers and conservationists with his ideas; this led to the establishment of the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve (NNR). Although Caerlaverock’s natural and socioeconomic landscape has altered over time, this model continues to work remarkably well and has adapted successfully to the changes that have had an impact on this beautiful part of the world.
These days for example, 60 years after the reserve was created, very few local people question the SNH wildfowling scheme or why occasional controlled commercial cockling is allowed on the reserve. We believe this is down to the successful demonstration, over many years, that exploitation of natural resources and the aims of the reserve are compatible.
This is in line with the principles and practices that underpin sustainable land management, or meeting the needs of the present, whilst protecting the needs of the future. This attitude, shared across the Nith Estuary and the wider Solway Firth, is the enduring success of the vision that the Duke of Norfolk had for Caerlaverock NNR so many years ago.
If you want to find out more about Caerlaverock NNR and the people who make this venture an ongoing success, please keep an eye on the series of free events that the NNR team will run with SNH’s partners in 2017. These events will take place on and around the reserve and will be advertised on our website throughout the year at: www.nnr-scotland.org.uk/caerlaverock/
As we celebrate our 60th anniversary we would like to hear from local residents and visitors about their ideas, stories and experiences of Caerlaverock. The NNR team hope you will join us as we contribute to the Solway Coastwise project www.solwaycoastwise.tumblr.com to collect audio recordings of people’s experiences.
If you want find out more about this or any of our other events and activities please get in touch with us at SOUTHERN_SCOTLAND_ADMIN@snh.gov.uk