OUR thanks to Michael Johnson (Letters August 30) for pointing so precisely to the threat of gorse to common land on Dartmoor.
The aggressive plant to which he refers is Ulex gallii known locally as tame gorse.
In earlier years this plant has been kept in check by Commoners Associations through a balance of grazing and swaling, or seasonal burning; but since 1998 Maff, now Defra, have enforced severe grazing restriction onto Commoners.
Swaling has been deprecated for years.
Mary Tavy commoners have fought a vigorous, but so far unrewarded, campaign against these restrictions, citing the spread of this gorse plant as a certain result.
Maybe other concerned users of the common will echo Mr Johnson's observations, which may help us to achieve some progress in reversing the advance of this menace.
G Swayne
Secretary
Mary Tavy Commoners' Association