Gamekeeping and Conservation

Megan Rowland

Tuesday, 11th January 2022

Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, 7.30 p.m.

In this talk, Megan Rowland will be covering her journey from vegetarian to deer manager and hunter. A meandering journey through land use, crofting, conservation, rewilding, sustainable deer management in Scotland, and being a “woman in a man’s world”.

Megan will discuss the various decisions that led her to where she is today, and some of the Gordian knots we have to work out in land management in the 21st Century.

Gamekeeping and conservation

Brought up on an Orkney croft in a farming community, and becoming increasingly interested in food sustainability, integrated land management and hunting, Megan Rowland relocated to the Highlands in 2012 to work within the conservation sector.

She volunteered extensively with a range of conservation organisations, before getting interested in the minutiae of land management and retraining as a game and wildlife manager.

Megan then went on to work as a deerstalker and land manager for some five years on an estate in Sutherland, helping with the delivery of an in-depth land management plan. This taught her about everything from the finesse of good deer management to the politics of land use in Scotland.

Megan Rowland