Mar Lodge is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and is close to Braemar. The management of this estate has been controversial of late, particular over the deer management and muirburn policies. There has been concern about the reduction in deer numbers and the impact that this will have on stalking enterprises on neighbouring estates. The lack of a full muirburn programme has also left neighbours worrying about wildfire risk.
NTS commissioned an independent report and this is available to download. To quote from the report, it is interesting to note that, "part of the initial aspiration for the Estate was to demonstrate that conservation and sporting objectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but that with sensitive management, both can be accommodated." The report considers different scenarios: two variants of the status quo, and then minimum and medium intervention policies; it then makes a series of recommendations.
