The case for a Galloway National Park is at the Scottish Parliament this week with a special exhibition and the publication of a new vision statement.
The three-day show at Holyrood, presented by the Galloway National Park Association (GNPA) and sponsored by South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth, concludes today.
It coincided with a Stop More National Parks in Scotland presentation to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee at the Scottish Parliament yesterday morning.
Gatehouse woman Denise Brownlee was among those seeking to persuade MSPs that a new Galloway National Park was a bad idea.
Speaking for, GNPA convenor Rob Lucas gave evidence on why a park would bring positive benefits.
Ms Brownlee told MSPs: “We are already a quite heavy tourist area down in Dumfries and Galloway.
“This impact at the moment is bad enough but seeing the impacts elsewhere after 20 years I think it’s something we can’t handle.
“We can’t handle those kind of numbers.”
Mr Lucas responded: “The national park brand is a very powerful way of bringing people to an area, and an area which is currently very under-recognised.
“We spoke to well over 2,000 people and two messages came through.
“First of all, they wanted to put Galloway on the map and they felt a national park could do that, because with that would give some recognition.
“And the second reason was they felt that Galloway was a place that things were done to, and not done with.”
The hearing follows a plea for a “respectful” debate on a potential Galloway National Park from the chairman of South of Scotland Enterprise Professor Russel Griggs.
He said: “We are not being asked to consider whether we want to have a national park that looks like the existing national parks in Scotland, or to recreate those structures.
“We, as a region, have been given the unique chance to create the one we want, if that is what we decide.”
All five of Scotland’s main political parties – the SNP, Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens made manifesto commitments supporting the designation of new national parks in Scotland.
The 12-week public consultation opens next month.