A conservation charity working to restore Scotland's ancient Caledonian Forest, wants to bring beavers back to the northwest Highlands despite their instinct to fell trees to build dams.
Trees for Life says this actually benefits restoration work and the group is seeking support in raising £15,000 to fund site assessments, work with local communities, and undertake beaver habitat restoration work. The group recognises that there could be resistance from crofters, farmers and landowners, but wants to engage with them to see where it could work.
This would enable a formal application for a licence to re-establish beavers in the Highlands to be made.
Alan Watson Featherstone, Founder of Trees for Life, explained “Beavers were a key native species of the Caledonian Forest before being hunted to extinction some 400 years ago. We now have an unprecedented opportunity to bring them back.
“We are asking the public to help us pave the way for beavers to come home to the Highlands – improving the region for other wildlife, and providing a tourist attraction to boost the local economy.”
Last November, after an official reintroduction trial in Argyll, the Scottish Government announced that European beavers were officially accepted as a native species in Scotland. Meanwhile separately an unofficial beaver population has been growing in the wild since in Tayside since at least 2006, thought to originate either from escapes or illegal releases from private collections. Local farmers/landowners complain of the damage they do and some of the animals have been controversially shot.
But Trees for Life has been preparing for the return of beavers further north for more than 25 years. However beavers cannot colonise the northwest Highlands on their own, as the Great Glen is a natural barrier to beavers from the existing populations in Argyll and Tayside. So the only way to be sure they will return to the region will be to give them a helping hand.
Trees for Life has been creating suitable habitat by planting aspens and willows along loch shores and riverbanks. In 2015, the charity commissioned an expert survey of some of the key sites where it works, which confirmed that these locations could support beavers.
Mr Featherstone said beavers were superb ecosystem engineers. They created and manage wetland habitats – benefitting insects, fish, bats and birds. "Their small dams help regulate water flow. Their felling of trees provides dead wood that benefits many organisms, and stimulates regeneration by causing new shoots to grow from tree stumps."
He said in Europe, 24 countries have reintroduced beavers, with significant benefits. The official Scottish beaver trial in Argyll also showed substantial positive results, both for the local ecology and from increased tourism. A group of 16 were introduced into lochs in Knapdale Forest between 2009 and 2011, and monitored by scientists. While several died, others bred successfully and produced a litter of kits within a year of being set free.
However in announcing protection for beavers in November, Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said she was determined to find a pragmatic approach, which balanced the biodiversity benefits of reintroducing beavers with the obvious need to limit difficulties for farmers.
She stressed that while the species would be permitted to extend its range naturally, further unauthorised releases of beavers would be a criminal act, adding "Swift action will be taken in such circumstances to prevent a repeat of the experience on Tayside."
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