'WORKING as a ranger for the Dartmoor National Park Authority is definitely high on the list of dream jobs', said Dartmoor rangers Andrea Roberts and Ella Briens in the latest Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) magazine 'Dartmoor Matters'.

Unfortunately, the reality is often far from this when they have to deal first hand with events and activities that are 'anti-social'.

Andrea and Ella said that, thankfully, most of Dartmoor's visitors behave in a responsible manner and it is 'the few that spoil it for everyone': 'We are there though, picking up the pieces, especially in the honey-pot sites that have a concentration of visitors.

'It is indeed disheartening to come across fly-tipped waste, to clear recreational litter — often including soiled nappies and rancid burgers — to reporting burnt out vehicles and to see people feeding the ponies.'

For the rangers, much of their work goes on behind the scenes to help alleviate the problems of anti-social behaviour, to protect the landscape and the lives of the moorland animals.

Andrea and Ella have chosen a few issues that they feel need highlighting.

LITTER:

Rangers take the lead role regarding the responsibility for collecting and dealing with recreational litter that is not taken home.

Dartmoor National Park fund litter skips, and rangers regularly litter pick, organise and run volunteer litter picks and co-ordinate regular clearance of honey-pot sites.

The DNPA?funds and supports a local community interest company to clear sites through a programme of works.

The annual cost of the litter disposal alone is more than £20,000, which does not account for any staff time. The rangers said that in reality the cost to the tax payer and the National Park budget could be double that amount.

Last year alone, 648 black plastic bin-liners were filled with litter by the rangers — not including litter cleared by volunteers.

Over the summer period, nine skip bins were emptied on a weekly basis and were often overflowing.

FLY-TIPPING:

Fly-tipping is a serious offence and rangers have developed good working relationships with environmental health teams that organise waste removal.

DNP?is not legally responsible for fly-tipped waste as this falls within the district council's remit. But rangers are often first on the scene and can provide detailed information leading to convictions.

FIRES AND?BARBECUES:

These can quickly escalate into major incidents— moorland wildfires can rage for days and are dealt with by the Fire and Rescue Service, local commoners and the rangers.

Fires and barbecues more commonly have a localised negative impact where grass is burnt, rocks are split and dangerous barbecue debris impacts on local wildlife.

Rangers frequently run fire-pit work parties, which includes re-seeding and repairing damaged sites.

As well as causing damage and being dangerous, lighting fires is a DNP byelaw offence.

ABANDONED?VEHICLES:

Abandoned vehicles are dealt with by the police. They are often set alight and this causes additional problems. There is an official procedure to go through with these types of incidents as the waste is often toxic.

PONY?FEEDING:

This has serious negative implications when ponies associate car parks with food and subsequently become victims of road traffic collisions.

The rangers have caught people feeding ponies unsuitable 'food items', including Cheerios and Cornflakes, which can, apart from anything else, seriously affect the health of these animals.

CAR?SKIDDING:

This issue carves up the countryside and can damage special sites such as archaeological remains, causes noise pollution and 'looks dreadful'.

In order to combat this issue, areas have been banked off at a cost to the DNP and landowners, to reduce vehicular access to the moor.

Drivers involved in these activities are breaking the road traffic act and are breaching the byelaws.

Descriptions of vehicles, including number plates, are essential in dealing with these incidents.

OFF ROAD?DRIVING:

This is a road traffic offence and a breach of the byelaws. There are only certain routes that people are permitted to take a motorised vehicle. These are known as unclassified county roads and are marked on ordnance survey maps.

Some drivers attempt to drive over other areas of the moor with no legal access, for example, driving down a bridleway or over an archaeological feature such as the old mine workings at Cadover Bridge.

Rangers have installed 'no unauthorised vehicle' signs where a problem has been identified and arranged numerous 'banked-off' areas to prevent inappropriate vehicle access.

DOGS WORRYING?LIVESTOCK:

This has prompted a run of DNP?campaigns — currently Paws on Dartmoor highlights requirements for dog owners to be responsible.

Recently, rangers have been involved in setting up dog training sessions and a number of open days and events in conjunction with the West Devon Dog Wardens and local police.

Other issues the local farming community face include visitors leaving gates open and sledging in private fields.

In looking at the long list of negative activities, the rangers want to remind people that Dartmoor is a fantastic place and they work in a lovely environment which is respected by the vast majority of people who live, work and play on the moor.

Andrea and Ella said: 'It is, however, unfortunate that the actions of a very small number of individuals have such a negative impact on us all.

'Some of the problems are caused by ignorance but others are deliberate acts.

'Our work as a national park and the work carried out by the Dartmoor Preservation Association?to keep Dartmoor special is constant and in this age of shrinking budgets it is even more important that we continue to work together to educate people to respect the environment but recognise that sometimes enforcement is also needed.'