THE SCOTTISH Crofting Federation (SCF) Board and Council endorsed support for Uist crofters in their campaign for the Scottish Government to fund reduction of wild geese which are devastating the grazings and the environmentally sensitive machair.
‘At a recent meeting of the SCF’s board of directors and our advisory council of representatives, it was unanimously agreed that SCF is 100 per cent behind the Uist crofters in their struggle to get meaningful support from the Scottish Government to reduce the wild geese that plague them,’ said SCF chairman Russell Smith.
‘It is clear from crofters’ comments that not only is ‘the joy gone from crofting’ due to goose damage, but that if nothing is done to control goose numbers, crofting that is particular to the Uists will end within five years, with the consequent irrecoverable loss to the acclaimed machair ecology.’