Estate Management
There are over 150 different land-holdings in the National Park ranging in size from less than 100 hectares to over 40,000 hectares. How these estates are managed influences everything we see and do in the National Park.
The majority of the land in the National Park (approximately 75% of the area) is privately owned by individuals or trusts. Significant areas such as Mar Lodge Estate in Deeside and Abernethy Estate in Strathspey are owned by Charitable conservation bodies. Government Agencies: The Forestry Commission, Scottish Natural Heritage and Highlands & Islands Enterprise also own and manage large areas.
The biggest influence on how the land is managed is in most cases the landowner, but there are a range of other factors such as conservation designations, financial incentives, topography, climate, existing habitat and soils that greatly affect a landowner’s objectives.
The CNPA has strong working relationships with landowners in the National Park. Our aim is to help them work alongside each other in achieving the best results for the Park as a whole. That way we hope that their individual needs and interests can be met along with those of the wider community.
East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership
In a unique partnership the Mar Lodge, Mar, Invercauld, Balmoral, Glenavon and Glenlivet estates are working with the Cairngorms National Park Authority, seeking to demonstrate that it’s possible to deliver both public and private interest outcomes by successfully integrating sporting management with other land uses.
Working together on an unprecedented scale, the partnership will trial techniques and explore new ways of working to carry out species conservation, peatland restoration, woodland expansion and demonstrate more sustainable moorland management.
Read more about this innovative partnership.
Estate Management Statements
One way to help share how estates are managed with a wider audience is to create a series of Estate Management Statements for the National Park. These are written by estate owners/managers to provide a brief overview of the estate, their current priorities, examples of work to deliver the National Park Partnership Plan and contact points. It will take time to build up a series of management statements for all of the main landholdings in the National park. More will be added and updated on an on-going basis.
Zoom in and click on our interactive map to see where the estates are located. Management statements can be accessed by clicking the ‘view details’ tab under the estate name.
Landowner Survey
In 2013/14 the CNPA and ‘Scottish Land & Estates‘ carried out a survey of Estates in the National Park. You can download the full report or summary here:
Search for estates and view information on each including estate management statements
In the East Cairngorms the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership (ECMP) are running a collaborative wader research and monitoring project. The objective of the project is to build a better understanding of factors affecting wader breeding productivity.