A Free Church of Scotland minister in Lochaber is backing a Holyrood petition calling on MSPs to designate more national parks in Scotland.
Currently only two areas, the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs have national park status, and the Rev David Kirk believes that Scotland should be doing more to protect “some of the most beautiful and striking landscapes in Europe, if not the world”.
The outdoor enthusiast compares Scotland to his homeland of Wales where a fifth of the land area is protected by National Park status. Just 7% is protected in this way in Scotland.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) Holyrood’s public petitions committee will consider a petition that urges the Scottish Government to prepare and implement a strategy to designate more national parks in Scotland.
Mr Kirk, assistant minister of Kilmallie and Ardnamurchan Free Church, said: “National parks are one way of protecting wild and beautiful places, to do us good when we visit them, to remind us that the world is not ours to do with as we wish.
“As Scotland develops as a nation, as pressures come from energy requirements and increasing population, it will become more and more important to protect wild places.
“The church in the west hasn’t done a great job of speaking about the value of the natural environment and its protection. Neither has the populace of Scotland.
“The poor response to the petition that’s going before the Committee next week is a cause for dismay. We need to change things.”
Mr Kirk’s Kilmallie congregation overlooks Loch Linnhe and is also a stone’s throw from Ben Nevis and the Caledonian Canal. Several people from the church work in the outdoor industry and many more are active skiers, climbers, cyclists and paddlers.
In an article in the church’s website, the 45-year-old wrote: “The Christian scriptures tell us that the natural world speaks of the reality of God, his presence and his power.
“The natural world speaks of God’s glory. The Creator has gifted this small planet to us for our good.
“Interacting with wild places, with the natural world, brings joy, peace, clarity and blessing.
“The Creator has entrusted this planet to us, for us to care for it, to preserve all that is good and beautiful. We are called to exercise a wise and God-like rule.”
Mr Kirk also draws on the experience of John Muir: “One of Scotland’s most famous sons, John Muir, is the father of National Parks.
“After emigrating to the United States, he saw the destruction of beautiful landscapes and habitats first hand as the burgeoning economy demanded greater and greater resources.
“The inexorable drive to increase wealth always demands sacrifices. Precious things, including human lives, end up immolated on the altars of mammon. One of the other casualties is the natural world: habitats, landscapes, wilderness.
“John Muir recognised the importance of wild places, that they are good for the human body, and the human soul.
“In wild places, away from urbanisation and industrialisation, we remember who we are; we find our place, our centre; we remember what beauty is; we encounter the divine.”