Petition to the National Trust

This page supports both a printed and ONLINE VERSION of our petition to the National Trust.

We are a coalition of 15 local outdoor and environmental groups who have joined together as friends of the Derbyshire moorlands to support and persuade the National Trust to 'do the right thing' in managing its moorland estates on the 'Dark Peak' Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The petition allows you to:

1. PRAISE AND SUPPORT THE NATIONAL TRUST for deciding to revoke the grouse-shooting lease of its tenant in the Derbyshire moorlands at Hope Woodlands and Park Hall Estates (covering Kinder Scout, Bleaklow, Black Ashop Moor, Birchinlee Pasture etc), and . . .
2. . . .CALL ON THE NATIONAL TRUST not to renew the shooting tenancies on these two Estates in Derbyshire when they expire. (Instead, the NT should take the opportunity to work with other partners to establish a wilder landscape, free of intensive grouse-management, where wildlife can recover and thrive and not be subject to illegal persecution.)

This is not a call for a ban on shooting, or anything so extreme. 

It simply asks the National Trust to seize the opportunity now to create one fair-sized area within the Peak District where land and habitat management is not driven by the needs to maximise grouse production at the expense of most other wildlife, including top predators like peregrine falcons and hen harriers. No re-advertising for a replacement shooting tenant would achieve this very simply. (Background info here.)

Petition forms are being circulated to a wide range of outdoor and environmental groups around Derbyshire and the Peak District.Please download and print your own copy of the petition, and pass this around friends, neighbours or work colleagues. 

Completed petitions can then be returned by 31st Dec 2016 to local group coordinators, or to the address given on the download page.

Online Petition:
Alternatively, if you aren't able to sign our printed petition, you can always voice your opinion via our ONLINE PETITION. See https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/nomoorshooting

A wide range of local outdoor and environmental groups have been invited to join a coalition of organisations, specifically to promote this petition to the National Trust. Those who have given their endorsement now include:

• Derbyshire Ornithological Society
• Dark Peak Fell Runners
• Darley & Nutwood LNR Management Group
• Pleasley Pit Nature Study Group
• Sutton-in-Ashfield and District Rambling Club
• Ogston Bird Club
• Derbyshire Mammal Group
• Carsington Bird Club
• Wessington Green LNR Management Group
• Bakewell Bird Study Group
• Buxton Ramblers
• Derbyshire Amphibian & Reptile Group
• Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group
• Stanfree Valley Preservation Group
• Derby Natural History Society

Location of the National Trust's 8,000 hectare Hope Woodlands and Park Hall estates (both shown as darker purple), plus all other NT-owned moorland in the Peak District. There are grouse-shooting butts almost everywhere!

(Derbyshire boundary shown red; Peak District: grey. click to enlarge)

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right (2016)

Barrow Stones in the NT's Hope Woodlands Estate.
Do the activities of grouse-shooting tenants seem compatible with the National Trusts 'Vision' for a restored, wilder landscape? We think not.  (Google satellite view 2016. click to enlarge)

For further information, contact: nomoorshooting@gmail.com