Promoting and encouraging the sustainable recreational use of the Cairngorms National Park, will be discussed at this week’s Macaulay Institute seminar, by Andrew Coleman, Project Manager of the Upper Deeside Access Trust. The event takes place at 2pm on Wednesday 14 December in the Grampian Room at the Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen.

Seminar speaker Andrew Coleman said: “A great deal is talked about managing sustainable recreational use in mountain areas, but what does this mean and how is it achieved?

“At this seminar I will be talking about the pioneering role of the Upper Deeside Trust in bringing together the strategic thinking, policy co-operation, resources, engagement and action on the ground needed to manage and cater for the array of recreational demand in Upper Deeside, whilst trying to balance these with the natural heritage, land management and other interests.”

Anyone interested in attending this Wednesday’s Macaulay seminar should contact Jane Lund on tel: 01224 498200, email:j.lund@macaulay.ac.uk.

The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the use of rural land resources for the benefit of people and the environment and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China.

Through its seminar series the Macaulay Insitute aims to stimulate and inform debate about contemporary issues in land use science and natural resource management. However, the views expressed by the seminar speakers are their own views and are not those of the Institute. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at www.macaulay.ac.uk.

Andrew Coleman Over the past seven years Andrew Coleman has helped establish and manage the Upper Deeside Access Trust, an innovative environmental company currently delivering a £2.4m programme of access work across the Eastern Cairngorms. An engineering graduate with a Masters Degree in Resource Management, his career spans some 25 years in countryside planning, management and project development centred on protected mountain areas in the UK and abroad.

He began his career in 1980 as a Field Officer for Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand, before returning to the UK as a National Park Ranger in the Lake District. In 1991 he led the planning and development of the new Hadrian’s Wall National Trail for the Countryside Commission across Northumberland and Cumbria, before becoming Countryside Manager for Wyre; a Local Authority Countryside Service in the north west Pennines. A keen all round mountaineer, he has climbed and travelled widely in the UK and abroad, and continues to do so.

The Upper Deeside Access Trust (UDAT) is a non-profit making charity established in Upper Deeside and was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee on 1st June 1998. Its core funding partners include Aberdeenshire Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Enterprise Grampian, the Cairngorms National Park and Balmoral Estate with shared objectives in protecting the natural heritage, providing for public access and sustainable economic development. Its operational area covers some 110,000 ha of Upper Deeside ranging from Morven to Cairn Toul, the Cairnwell and Lochnagar.

Its twin aims are: ‘To help maintain and assist public access and enjoyment to the area and to promote its sensitive use, by developing and undertaking a strategy for managing access within Upper Deeside, which balances recreational use with the natural heritage, land management and other interests.’

The Trust’s wide-ranging programme is aimed at meeting visitor needs, tackling existing access problems, developing new opportunities for access and providing better information and provision. Its work includes undertaking major repairs of mountain paths, managing traffic and visitor pressure at key access points, developing low level path networks, providing better information and access provision and undertaking research into the use of the area. This low-level work is also aimed at helping to spread use to less sensitive sites away from the busiest areas. More general information about the work of the Trust can be viewed on its website at www.visitdeeside.com

For further information contact:

Karen Sage Tricker PR Office 01224 646 491 Mobile 07795 522012 Email ksage@trickerpr.com