It must be clear that the future conservation and maintenance of Dartmoor is heavily dependent on the survival of the hill farmers, and their ability to graze animals on the commons. The experience and specific skills required to manage the stock and vegetation has been passed on from one generation to the another. There are 850 registered commoners but less than a quarter of that number of farmers continue to use the commons for grazing, so it is also clear that the pool of those skills is diminishing as the years go by.
