page_title: Mar Lodge Estate
section_title: Tracks
hierarchical_section_title: Mar Lodge Estate / Conservation management / Tracks
caption_attribution_description: English: Mountain Cyclists between Glen Dee and Glen Luibeg on Mar Lodge Estate (a National Trust for Scotland property) on 28 July 2010
context_page_description: Mar Lodge Estate is a highland estate in western Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which has been owned and managed by the National Trust for Scotland since 1995. Its principal building, Mar Lodge, is about 4 miles west of the village of Braemar. The estate is recognised as one of the most important nature conservation landscapes in the British Isles and occupies nearly 8% of the Cairngorms National Park, covering 29,340 hectares. The natural heritage value of the estate is reflected by the fact that much of it is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area. The entire estate has been classified as a national nature reserve since May 2017, and is designated a Category II protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  Extreme weather conditions are experienced across the estate, especially on the plateau. Landslides, avalanches and floods alter the landscape and give it an interesting geomorphology. The estate is characterised by rounded granite Cairngorm mountains to the north, with deep corries and crags down to the valley floor.
context_section_description: In 1997, in line with the objectives and policies of the Trust to enhance the wild land quality and the 'long walk in' they began track removal work on Beinn a Bhuird. This vehicle hill-track had been extended from the head of Glen Quoich using a bulldozer over eight-weeks in 1966. The Trust found itself "in new territory, where the best and sometimes only advice it can get is from the experience of its own staff as they pioneer new techniques". These techniques comprised a three-stage process of (1) lifting vegetation that had naturally colonised the spoil; (2) using the spoil to re-grade the course of the vehicle hill-track, effectively blending the course of the vehicle hill-track back into the hill-side; and (3) replanting the vegetation lifted from the spoil leaving the width of a footpath unplanted. The re-vegetation was "supplemented by plants collected from densely vegetated areas within 50 metres of the track … [and] plate-sized turfs of species such as heather and blaeberry". The results were reviewed favourably by hillwalking publication The Angry Corrie.
  The 1996 Landscape Assessment had recommended the removal and revegetation of the majority of the tracks on the estate, including the one leading west from Luibeg to the edge of the Caledonian pinewood. In 2002 this track was re-engineered using imported material, destroying the pre-existing track, which Adam Watson had identified as being a 19th century hand-made cart track. In Vehicle hill tracks in northern Scotland, referring to this work, he wrote:
  a narrow path had been created, with unnecessary environmental impact on soils and vegetation from a new ditch excavated along the uphill side … I said to [the NTS property manager] that the NTS was open to public criticism for damaging an old feature of historical interest … [the track] has been buried under boulders and soil along its entire surface and verges. No works were needed, other than minor treatment to reduce erosion on slopes and washed-out sections.
  The Easter Charitable Trust's contribution towards the purchase was conditional, requiring that "NTS shall make continuous and constant efforts to dissuade, and where possible to prohibit, the use of mechanical or wheeled vehicles". The Trust initially considered that this stipulation also applied to bicycles, and signs were erected in various parts of the estate to state that the NTS has a policy of actively discouraging bike access, without actually stating that they were prohibited (outright prohibition would be contrary to the Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003). In 2001 this policy was revised to allow bicycles to access "as far as [NTS] drive their Land Rovers".
caption: Mountain Cyclists between Glen Dee and Glen Luibeg.
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