#JohnMuirDay 2024: Campaigning for wild places
John Muir was an active campaigner against inappropriate development and an advocate for the wild. To help celebrate his 186th Birthday, on John Muir Day 2024, we consider how the Scots-born American conservationist’s vital campaigning work for the protection of wild places inspires us still.
National Parks
The Trust supports the current move to create more National Parks across the UK and welcomes the Scottish Government's commitment to designate at least one new National Park in Scotland by 2026. In Wales, plans for a new National Park are progressing. The Trust joined engagement events last year that explored a new National Park based on the existing Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In February we signed up to a joint statement coordinated by the Campaign for National Parks, which lists what members of Wales’ environmental community think a designation needs to achieve.
Peatlands
When we met with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and NatureScot to discuss the Scottish Minister’s decision to consent the Energy Isles wind farm and were pleased to hear from SEPA that they are reviewing their policies on peatland protection. The Trust and SEPA are both members of the Scottish Government’s Peatland Advisory Group and we expect SEPA’s refreshed policies to be informed by this group’s membership. The Trust's Policy team are due to meet with the Scottish Government this Spring to discuss government policy on protecting and restoring peatlands in Scotland.
Carbon Emissions Land Tax
We welcomed the Scottish Government’s announcement in October 2023 that it would explore options for councils to introduce a carbon land tax. The Trust has met with Scottish Government policy officials in 2024 to discuss how this policy proposal can be progressed. Read how a Carbon Emissions Land Tax can change the face of Scotland.
Wind farm proposals
On 1st February 2024 the John Muir Trust submitted an objection to the eight turbine Culachy wind farm proposal in the Braeroy-Glenshirra-Creag Meagaidh Wild Land Area. In the introduction to our response, we pointed out that on 26th January 2024 the Scottish Government published a statement announcing, ‘Renewable technologies generated the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s overall electricity consumption in 2022’. This progress has largely been achieved whilst protecting Scotland’s Wild Land Areas and, by our estimations, the Scottish Government’s onshore wind target can be achieved without any new onshore wind development in Scotland’s Wild Land Areas. There is no technical justification given for why the proposal could not have been sited outwith the Wild Land Area. Our response raised concerns about cumulative and visual impacts of this development, which brings industrialisation much further south than the existing plan. We also expressed concerns about the damage being caused to peatlands – a recurring issue for onshore wind development. We argued that in the absence of a full carbon audit there are too many unknowns to be sure that the Proposed Development optimises the contribution of the area to Greenhouse Gas emissions reduction targets (a requirement under Policy 5c) of the Fourth National Planning Framework. See www.gov.scot/news/record-renewable-energy-output/
Nature champions
In December 2023 Jackie Dunbar, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, was awarded Nature Champion of the Year for her work, with the John Muir Trust and Scottish Wildlife Trust, championing the interests of sea trout. This year, we hope to work with the Wester Ross and Sutherland Fisheries Trusts to help brief Jackie on the plight of sea trout on Scotland’s west coast. We’d like Jackie to raise the profile of sea trout to equal that of wild salmon and support statutory targets for riparian woodland restoration in the forthcoming Natural Environment Bill.
Shared Rural Network telecom masts
The Trust continues its work with a coalition of organisations asking the UK Government to revise its approach to the rollout of a 4G mobile network across some of the UK’s remotest wild places. Minister Julia Lopez and Minister Lamont have both accepted our invitation to meet to discuss our concerns. We will meet again with the Shared Rural Network representatives, the UK Government executive agency, ‘Building Digital UK’ and the mobile network operators. We have focused the campaign on Scotland because of the hundreds of applications for new masts that are being proposed in the highlands, many in Wild Land Areas. However, we are aware of the concerns raised by members in England. The Trust plans to join Mountaineering Scotland in a meeting with Friends of the Lake District to help us understand how the protected landscapes in England are being impacted.
- Read more about our campaigning work against inappropriate development.
