YOUR article on the Loch Leven Heritage Trail route through RSPB Scotland land has presented a distorted picture of the negotiations that have taken place to define a route for the final 6.5 km of the Trail between Kinross and Vane Farm ("RSPB behaving like Donald Trump in battle over loch path", The Herald, May 1).
TRACKS (The Rural Access Committee of Kinross-shire) is the Scottish charity that has undertaken the task of creating the trail with responsibility for landowner negotiations, fund-raising and construction.
The trail already passes through both the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve and part of the RSPB Loch Leven Reserve. These are areas of outstanding beauty and a rich natural heritage that includes bird populations of international interest.Throughout the whole project it has been an objective to strike a balance between creating new access, enabling public enjoyment of the wildlife and ensuring the protection of the most sensitive environments. This has been successfully achieved through patient negotiation and an agreed programme of tree planting and hedging at key points. In negotiating the final part of the route through the Loch Leven Reserve TRACKS has had extended positive discussions with RSPB, the result of which is the route for which a planning application has been made. TRACKS is perfectly happy with this route and does not believe that a route crossing the middle of the reserve would be practical. A benefit of the route along the north side of the B9097 will be the creation of an excellent viewpoint overlooking the RSPB wetlands.
In a time when the countryside is under threat from development we need nature reserves more than ever. Let us encourage organisations like SNH and RSPB Scotland to establish and manage these facilities for our benefit and recognise that the "right to roam responsibly" has common sense limitations.
Neil Kilpatrick,
Project Director,
TRACKS, Boreland House, Cleish.
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