Nature group learns of community buyout plan from press amid dispute

One of Scotland’s largest environmental groups said it has learned about a crofting group joining a community buyout of its land via the media, rather than from the community members themselves.

The John Muir Trust (JMT) said it believes the move has been made by “a few individual office bearers” at the Assynt Crofters’ Trust (ACT) and a “hostile” individual “who has a wider political agenda”.

The two organisations have been locked in an ongoing bitter dispute about deer culling policies in the Highland area.

The fresh quarrel was triggered by NatureScot’s recent authorisation of an out-of-season and night-time licence to JMT to cull deer on its Quinag Estate as a means of protecting woodland.

ACT, however, has labelled the “gratuitous killing of deer” as “malicious”, and claims it will have a “direct, long-lasting and detrimental effect” on the community, including local deer stalking employment.

Members also said the policy is promoting a woodland regeneration scheme for a “tiny extent of woodland on the mountain” that “barely exists”.

But the clash escalated on Wednesday when the JMT said it learned the crofting community announced it apparently has plans to join a buyout of some of the charity’s land, without having had a prior discussion.

In a statement, the JMT said: “The John Muir Trust has been informed, not directly, but via the media, that the Assynt Crofters Trust is ‘considering the feasibility of joining a community buyout of the mountain of Quinag from the John Muir Trust’.

“We know that this has not been discussed with members of the Assynt Crofters Trust nor with the wider community of Assynt.

“We suspect that this is the work of a few individual office bearers working with people from outside the community, pursuing their own agenda…we note the role in this dispute of an individual from outside the area who has a wider political agenda, and has long been hostile to both the John Muir Trust and the Scottish Government.”

The ACT has been contacted for comment.

The JMT’s policy on killing deer previously clashed with locals after the discovery of 86 rotting stags on a hillside in Knoydart, Lochaber, in 2016.

Last week, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) announced it was backing ACT in pushing for the suspension of the out-of-season licence “until this project, and its potential impacts, can be evaluated properly”.

NatureScot has previously said “sustainable deer management is vital to effectively tackle the nature loss and climate change crises.”

The agency said it authorised JMT to control deer out-of-season and at night on its Quinag land to “prevent damage to woodland and other habitats, including those on protected sites”.