Last year we had a number of sickening incidents of fires and damage to trees, despite constantly asking people to go elsewhere. We were the first to offer camping on over 400 hectares of common land on the day after the High Court ruling in January 2023 and signed a permissive camping agreement soon afterwards. But we do ask people not to camp in Piles Copse, and especially not to cause damage. Because it is a SSSI, lighting fires or cutting trees is criminal because it detracts from the quality of a nationally important habitat in one of the few remaining fragments of ancient temperate rainforest. It is also selfish and mindless.

To help protect the area, we are once again contributing personal money to help pay for patrols by the Dartmoor Marshals. This means that we have a much higher chance of catching any offenders, who seem determined to spoil the environment for the rest of society.