Deer Management Strategic Board

Overview

The Scottish Government has a Programme for Government commitment to “modernise deer management, implementing the recommendations of the Deer Management Working Group”.

We published our response to the report by the independent Deer Working Group on 24 March 2021. The Scottish Government has accepted the majority of the ninety-nine recommendations including changes that will modernise the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 alongside proposals to change how, when and where deer can be shot and by whom.

Given the links between deer management and biodiversity, the Scottish Government have established a project under the Scottish Biodiversity Programme Board to encompass legislative and non-legislative components of ensuring effective deer management. This will ensure an appropriate level of governance, but will also bring deer management into consideration alongside biodiversity as the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy progresses.

This project board has been established under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Programme, and the board will agree priorities to improve the sustainability of Scotland’s deer management systems, with actions split across four work streams: legislation; regulation; incentives; and operational delivery.

The work streams are in the process of identifying and agreeing priority actions for the recommendations within their remit, and this website will be updated as that work develops. The work stream focusing on incentives will include proposals to mainstream deer management into existing schemes, and scope for any new schemes. While the regulation work stream will focus our approach to target regulatory efforts and will include prioritizing areas where significant damage occurs. We will continue to engage with stakeholders as the policy develops.

Spreadsheets have been produced which charts progress against each of the recommendations and can be found at the NatureScot Deer Work Programme webpage.

 

The Vision

• Deer numbers have a profound affect on nature and on climate. High deer numbers are preventing natural regeneration of woodland, they have a negative impact on carbon sequestration and emissions, and prevent biodiversity restoration and recovery.
• There are around one million deer in Scotland. We aim to reduce this to a level which habitats and ecosystems can recover and regenerate and deer densities are maintained at sustainable levels by about half by 2030. Our initial focus will be on priority areas, alongside reductions in other herbivore impacts, to encourage natural tree regeneration and protect public investment in tree planting and peatland restoration.
• By 2045, we want to see sustainable deer management across Scotland, which will allow deer to be part of a biodiverse and functioning ecosystem.
• We recognise that this vision will need to be delivered by the people working in the deer management sector. This will require resourcing with financial support for reduction culls, training, maintenance of skilled employment and more opportunities for community involvement. We acknowledge that this will mean a change for some and will look to see that this takes place in accordance with the principles of Just Transition.
• The venison market will play an important role in delivering this vision while simultaneously providing a sustainable and healthy food source. We will look to strengthen the sector, including the provision of community larders and working to broaden the venison retail market.

Members

• Donald Henderson – Deputy Director, Natural Resources Division, Scottish Government (Chair)
• Cairngorms National Park Authority
• Forestry and Land Scotland
• Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority 
• NatureScot
• Scottish Forestry

Publications