HOW nice of Mary Alford (‘View from the Gate’ January 28) to remind us that ‘without livestock grazing … the moor would become a wilderness.’  What a delightful prospect! 

And it seems that all we have to do to restore the moorland from the overgrazed ecological desert that it has become, is stop paying farmers subsidies!  This sounds like a ‘win-win‘ situation for society at large.

Some parts of Britain are productive enough to make intensive farming worthwhile, but paying farmers to graze sheep on marginal land like Dartmoor is both expensive and destructive of what could be our last vestiges of natural countryside. 

As George Monbiot, Chris Packham, and that excellent society ‘Rewilding Britain’ suggest, the ecological restoration of such places is now more important than preserving a few people’s ancient grazing rights. 

Prioritising the management of uplands for nature preservation would transform the numbers and variety of animal and plant species; encourage public use; increase environmental awareness; improve public mental and physical health, and help to restore natural hydrological systems which regulate river flow and reduce lowland flooding. 

Surely Mrs Alford realises that becoming ‘overgrown with scrub’ describes not some static state of rural neglect but a highly productive part of the ecological  succession that would lead towards the natural reforestation which we so desperately need?

 Mrs Alford raises some interesting and important questions that we all need to consider regarding the best use of the moor but we should not be led into thinking that all farmers are unenlightened and narrow minded about the way that the land is actually a common heritage and must serve us all — not just themselves.   

We could create not only a sustainable future but also an attractive and abundant one, so long as we are prepared to change outdated practices and overcome entrenched vested interests.

Robert Cook

Tavistock