Eager for beavers

Published on Thursday 20 October 2005 02:14

Forester's friend or furry chainsaw? The busy little Castor fiber falls into the latter category as far as our politicians are concerned and their decision not to rubber-stamp plans to welcome beavers back to Scotland is breeding revolution in the ranks of the country's conservation bodies.

"The Scottish Executive has disregarded the advice of its own government advisers at Scottish Natural Heritage," says Simon Milne, chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, "They paid SNH to conduct an investigation and then they blatantly ignore the findings," he says.

Plans are now afoot to get European backing to show up "seriously flawed" arguments and look into the Executive turnaround. "We got cross party support in the parliamentary debate in May, if there was no opposition then, what's changed?" says Milne.

According to an SNH spokesman, "There was nothing to stop a licence being granted. In the five years since a formal application had been made, we were confident we had answered all the outstanding questions."

As reserve managers for part of the proposed beaver trial site at Knapdale Forest in Argyll, the Scottish Wildlife Trust doesn't take kindly to Executive accusations that the trial infringes European regulations when it comes to policing possible beaver bother in a protected area.

"All aspects of this have been studied to death - we've been working together with SNH, the Forestry Commission, had extensive public consultation and looked at everything with the spirit and intention of European law always to the fore," says Milne.

Can the Executive decision be interpreted as meaning that trials cannot take place in conservation areas?

Doesn't that make nonsense of the principle behind wildlife conservation?

And as beavers have been reintroduced successfully to other European countries using this principle, Milne is even more determined not to let the matter lie. "Does that mean all 23 other countries are wrong as well? Executive excuses just don't hold water."

As opposed to beaver dams, which would re-create valuable, vanished wetland habitats. And yes, Milne says, conservation bodies are well aware that wildlife needs some management - and as in the case of hedgehog and mink, introducing species into the wrong place can be catastrophic.

"We don't believe beaver comes into that category," adds Milne. "We're talking about reintroduction of a species that was indigenous, and the area proposed for the trial, at the end of the Crinan Canal, is naturally confining."

But we're talking about reintroducing a species into an ecosystem that has changed in the 500 years since the European beaver last put its waterway engineering practices to work around Scotland's forests and riverbanks. In that time the natural habitat has changed irrevocably - due to human activities. Surely too much has happened to let beavers back in again? A huge proportion of what was once wetland habitat has been drained for agricultural purposes, and clues as to part of the reason behind the Executive's final decision might be seen when looking at recent public comments from groups such as the NFU. Comments such as "alien species" and "lack of control once released" are backed by some landowners talking about "huge rats" and "destructive pests".

"We're aware of the opposition of some landowners but I doubt that was the critical factor," says Milne.

According to SNH, beavers are a missing element of Scotland's native biodiversity that was lost entirely through human activities - and we have a moral responsibility to consider their return. Secondly, they say, the animals are an important "keystone" species in forest and riverbank ecosystems. Beaver ponds act as sediment traps on rivers, help reduce flooding by increasing water storage, help to neutralise acid run-off and create extra food and pools for fish. European beavers have an entirely veggie diet - juicy green stuff in summer and bark in winter. And no, they're not furry chainsaws. They fell small trees to eat the bark and for dam-building material but it's not in their own best interest to kill their food source.

So there we have it, say the conservationists. When you add the attractive proposition of wildlife tourism to the equation, the odds are stacked against short-sighted decision making.

"We're not treating this as a fait accompli. It's been set back but SNH are compiling a 'Species framework for Scotland' proposal that should close reintroduction loopholes," says Milne.

"Watch this space."