YOUR correspondents, D J McDowall and Noreen Lane (Letters, May 2), appear to have an impressive command of logic, in that they seem to make it do whatever they would like it to do.
They defend the continuing use of the Cramber Tor area of Dartmoor — which is the issue at hand — with the claim that use of the Northern Moor is essential for training.
D J McDowall says that 'every area we ever used was searched and cleared at the end of every day'. Well, I can't say that the rubbish I have seen was left by Royal Marines (or 29 Commando for that matter) because none of it was labelled. But I have seen considerable quantities of rubbish that were certainly not left by civilian walkers. I can well understand that soldiers on exercise, perhaps in difficulties and not exactly enjoying themselves, will not feel that clearing up is their top priority.
Noreen Lane says that when she walks up Tavy Cleeve (sic) she seldom encounters many walkers. In my experience, it is a rare day when I see no-one else out. Does the fact that 90% of visitors stay within 200m of the road mean the other 10% can be ignored? And I find the repeated claim that the diversity of wildlife is due to restricted access for walkers infuriating. There is equal or greater diversity in areas of the moor the military do not train in. For them to take credit for a debatable, and in any case unintended, result is scandalous.
What both of your correspondents ignore is that Dartmoor is a National Park, and military use is not compatible with National Park status. At any rate the licence for continued military use of the Cramber Tor area should not be renewed.
W J Radcliffe
Princetown