Sir, - We congratulate Michael Viney on his perceptive article on the degradation of moorland by over-grazing (Another Life, January 22nd). He describes eloquently the considerable areas in the West which have been left as expanses of mud and the downstream problems such as polluted water supplies. Anyone who walks the mountains of the West can readily see that Mr Viney is not exaggerating matters.
We would like to supplement his observations with two more of our own. One is the proliferation of lines of fences erected at the behest of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme. Ironically, these have turned remote, environmentally attractive areas into strips of land more akin to akin to Flanders in the first World War, and about as difficult to cross.
The other is the increasing incidence of access problems. While accepting that farmers sometimes have problems with access, we cannot see why walkers are been blocked from unenclosed areas where there has never been trouble in the past. It is not good enough for farming leaders to say airily that there are only one or two flashpoints. Not only are there at least a dozen serious problems current at any one time but walkers do not know where (or why) they are likely to be accosted. It is also not good enough for them to refuse to censure farmers who have unreasonably blocked access. The farming organisations support their members regardless of right or wrong; in many instances the farmer's case has been threadbare.
Given the parlous financial state of many sheep farmers in the West, it would seem sensible for them and their representatives to think about alternative incomes. We are sure that agri-tourism based on walking and related interests could form a major part of any diversification. Moorland reduced to mud, intimidating lines of fences and "Keep Out" are not the best way of encouraging this development. - Yours, etc.,
David Herman, Keep Ireland Open, Meadow Grove, Dublin 16.