Download (PDF 1.17 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/31055.pdf
Abstract
Wild land in Scotland has been subject to steady attrition due to various types of development. This paper explores approaches that might be used to describe this attrition in Scotland, in order to promote more informed debate and assist policy development. Current digital map databases showing roads, bulldozed trails, plantation forest and hydropower schemes were backdated using historic maps, allowing these developments to be quantified in the Affric-Kintail-Knoydart area in the late 19th century, the 1950s and at the present time using Geographical Information Systems. Accessibility modeling and viewshed analysis are used to assess the influence of these developments on remoteness, and the extent of land free of such visible features, at these indicative time points. Land considered remote from roads or bulldozed trails has decreased over the last 100 years, although estimates are sensitive to the chosen analytical method. Land without visible trails, plantations and hydro schemes has also decreased by between 30 and 39 percent over this period. This provides quantitative support to the widespread perception that the Scottish wild land resource has experienced progressive incursion by hydro schemes, afforestation and road/track construction over the last 100 years.
Parent Publication
Keywords
wilderness,
biodiversity,
protected areas,
economics,
subsistence,
tourism,
traditional knowledge,
community involvement,
policy,
stewardship,
education,
spiritual values
Citation
Carver, Steve; Wrightham, Mark. 2007. Shrinking wild lands: Assessing human intrusion in the Highlands of Scotland, 1870 to 2004, using Geographical Information Systems. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 357-366
