The Mountains and The People (TMTP) was the largest, most complex upland path project ever undertaken in the UK. The £5.6m scheme created and rebuilt footpaths on some of the Highlands’ most iconic hills, across Scotland’s two national parks, repairing environmental damage caused by walkers and preventing further damage.
Seeding the budget with its own resources, the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) brought together agencies, and, crucially, won support from multiple landowners at 43 diverse sites. The project completed 120km of paths over six years. It created 36 path-builders of the future, and attracted help from volunteers across Scotland.
This scheme performed the difficult task of raising a serious amount of money to do a job that appeared to be falling through the cracks between other agencies. No individual organisation had the funds, knowledge and drive to repair damage to upland habitats in some of our most highly-prized landscapes. OATS brought agencies, funders, landowners and professionals together in partnership to develop the path infrastructure.
TMTP protected and repaired fragile environments at a time when the number of people venturing into the countryside saw huge growth, and when landowners were growing increasingly concerned at the damage done by visitors. At the same time the visitors who flock to the parks were given the infrastructure they need to enjoy these places responsibly. The effect has been dramatic, with paths that had been braided metres wide now neat, solid surfaces which contain walkers, prevent environmental damage, and look as if they belong.
Many of these paths were eyesores which cut into the vegetation layer and gave a head-start to erosion of peat and other delicate soils; they spread out to damage wider vegetation in fragile upland environments. By constructing and repairing solid, contained path lines, walkers were directed into a single strip, protected by drainage construction, allowing the surrounding areas to recover. For land managers the new paths have helped direct visitors and contain them, walking a good path is always easier than tackling rough country.
Adopt A Path – where enthusiasts monitor the condition of individual paths – and ongoing volunteer schemes developed during TMTP have engaged people from the outdoors community across Scotland, developing knowledge of the importance of path-building and enthusiasm to get it done. Adopt A Path continues and in 2022 OATS are progressing plans to expand the scheme to cover the whole country.