More beavers – but not at any cost to farmers

A new national strategy has just been published setting out a route map for beavers in Scotland over the coming decades, steering efforts to identify and 'actively expand' the population to new catchments, alongside appropriate management and mitigation.

The National Farmers Union Scotland was one of the key stakeholders in the strategy's formulation, and welcomed its publication – but was at pains to stress that political promises of 'consensus' in the countryside must be honoured, and that would mean a long term commitment to encouraging beavers in the 'right places', and actively discouraging them where they might disrupt active farming.

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Union president Martin Kennedy said: “As a key stakeholder, NFUS has strived to ensure that the views and concerns of farmers and crofters were accounted for when developing the National strategy for Beavers in Scotland. NFUS will go on to represent all members while sitting on the Scottish Beavers Advisory Group.

“We will continue to work with all parties going forward to ensure that damage to productive farmland is minimised and our members’ ability to produce healthy, sustainable food and maintain valuable historical features such as floodbanks and mature trees are preserved," said Mr Kennedy.

"On translocation, a robust consultation process must be put in place to ensure that all those individuals and communities potentially impacted by the planned movement of beavers to a new location can give their views.

“To deliver the translocation policy, NatureScot must have sufficient resources to undertake trapping and deliver mitigation measures in areas where significant and costly damage to farmland is occurring," he stressed. "Funding should not come from within existing agricultural schemes. And, where mitigation and trapping measures fail, dam removal and lethal control must remain an option.

“We believe in sensitively managing wildlife to benefit and improve our biodiversity in balance with our need to produce food and keep the nation fed. We have some within our membership who are keen to support beaver relocation," he noted. "However, as the strategy recognises, beavers, in the wrong areas, are proven to cause significant and costly agricultural damage so consultation and consensus are key.”

The development of Scotland’s Beaver Strategy 2022-2045 actually involved more than 50 stakeholder organisations, and is being held up as one of the 'most ambitious and forward-looking approaches' to managing and conserving a species ever carried out in Britain.

The strategy highlights the need for ongoing research and monitoring of the beaver population and its effects to inform and improve management as the population expands, using existing and new techniques and technologies. It will also help identify how people, and ecosystems, can most benefit from the presence of beavers.

A cross-stakeholder organising team including representatives from NatureScot, NFUS, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Land & Estates and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland helped to steer the process, and the document was produced through the direct involvement of stakeholder groups and individuals from a wide variety of sectors.

Facilitator Jamie Copsey said: “It is great to be part of such a national effort, bringing together diverse needs and interests to agree on a common way forward for such an emotive species as the Eurasian beaver. Scotland is modelling the way for collaborative biodiversity restoration efforts globally.”

ScotGov biodiversity minister Lorna Slater said: “Just 25 years ago most people would not have imagined that beavers would soon return as a member of our Scottish fauna. Now they are returning we have a responsibility to look after and value them – to learn to live alongside these remarkable animals.

“This strategy, and our work together to deliver it, is an important and welcome step towards this goal. I have no doubt of the positive impact that delivering it will have on the natural environment across the country, as beavers re-engineer and restore rivers and create wetlands," said Ms Slater.

“Recognising the concerns and requests made by stakeholders during the development of this strategy, the Scottish Government will support the expansion of beavers across the country, whilst ensuring land managers are supported to live alongside beavers.”

NatureScot’s chief executive Francesca Osowska said: “Our ambitious long-term vision is to see the beaver population expand across Scotland, co-existing successfully with communities. Designing Scotland’s Beaver Strategy has been a truly collaborative process. It’s owned by all the stakeholders involved and draws on all of our experiences so far, reflecting both aspirations and concerns as we look to the future of the species.

“Beavers can play an important role in helping to restore biodiversity and respond to the climate emergency in Scotland and we aim to see further releases into new catchments in Scotland this year," she said. "At the same time, it’s essential that this happens in a way that takes into account the views of local communities living in these areas.

“NatureScot is committed to taking a lead role in implementing this strategy and much work is already underway, including mapping to prioritise suitable catchments, and conversations with a range of individuals and organisations to discuss possible new areas for beavers. Alongside this we will continue to provide advice and support for managing and mitigating beaver impacts.”

Read more: Second beaver release at Argaty, Perthshire

Director of Conservation at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Sarah Robinson, said: “Biodiversity is declining at a faster rate now than at any time in human history. Beavers provide a nature-based solution to tackling the growing crisis.

“The national strategy sets out how to help beavers become established throughout Scotland’s lochs, burns and rivers, and the many ways that both people and wildlife will benefit from their presence. We need to act urgently to implement this forward-looking strategy.

“Continuing the joined-up approach that has been taken to developing the strategy is vital. This will ensure that we can realise the proven benefits that beavers can bring, at the same time as ensuring that any localised negative impacts that these natural engineers introduce can be managed.”

Scottish Land and Estates policy adviser, Karen Ramoo, commented: “Beavers can play an important ecological role in our environment whilst acknowledging the negative impacts that need to be mitigated, particularly for farmers and other rural businesses.

“The new strategy has taken significant work by many different organisations to create a framework whereby future beaver expansion can be both supported and managed appropriately. It is an ambitious strategy that will require long-term political will and financial support in order to be effective for the species itself, and for those who work on the land and may be impacted by wider beaver restoration.”