National parks of Scotland

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Looking eastwards along Loch Katrine in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

There are currently two national parks of Scotland: Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, created in 2002, and the Cairngorms National Park, created in 2003. These national parks were designated as such under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, passed by the Scottish Parliament, 51 years after the establishment of the National Parks of England and Wales. It was a Scot, John Muir, who had initiated the first national park in the world, at Yosemite in the United States.

In June 2005, the Scottish Executive announced their intention to create Scotland’s first coastal and marine national park during 2008. Five possible locations for this are being considered:

Solway Firth
Argyll Islands and Coast
Ardnamurchan, Small Isles and South Skye Coast
North Skye Coast and Wester Ross
North Uist, Sound of Harris, Harris and South Lewis

[edit] Private land ownership

Like the national parks of England and Wales, neither of the Scottish parks are wilderness areas owned by the government. The majority of the land is in private ownership; more importantly, much of the land has been worked by humans for thousands of years, in places quite extensively. Like many areas of the Scottish Highlands, historical deforestation, overgrazing by sheep and deer, and extensive 20th century afforestation with non-native tree species (particularly conifers) have resulted in landscapes which are semi-natural. Like their English and Welsh counterparts, then, the parks in Scotland are effectively "managed landscapes".

Like national parks in England and Wales, each national park in Scotland is administered by a National Park Authority. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 which led to the creation of the English and Welsh national parks defined two purposes for National Park Authorities relating to conservation and enjoyment. However, Scottish national parks have two additional aims which are not included in the legislation for the parks in England and Wales. Under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, national parks in Scotland have four aims:

To conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the area
To promote sustainable use of the natural resources of the area
To promote understanding and enjoyment (including enjoyment in the form of recreation) of the special qualities of the area by the public
To promote sustainable economic and social development of the area's communities

The general purpose of the National Park Authority, as defined in the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, is to ensure that these aims are "collectively achieved ...in a coordinated way". Although the four aims have equal status, in accordance with the Sandford Principle, the first aim (conservation and enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage) is to be given greater weight when it appears to the Park Authority that there is irreconcilable conflict with the other aims.