Beavers Are Appreciated in Scotland

credit: BBC News

Beavers alter the environments they live in, almost as much as man. The master builders are sometimes considered pests by humans because of their unwanted damn building and tree felling, but usually their activities enhance wildlife diversity by creating wetlands and ponds.  In Scotland beavers {Castor fiber} will be given protected status beginning in May.  Farmers are not happy with the decision to protect them.  A government spokesperson told a radio program that it is doing what the people wanted.  Scottish National Heritage is setting up a mitigation program to help farmers cope with the busy beavers; it can be expensive to clear dams inundating agricultural land.  Supporters say beavers contribute to water quality and provide habitat for other creatures.

Beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK about 400 years ago. They were illegally reintroduced to Scotland from Norway about 12 years ago, and their numbers have increased rapidly in the Tayside region.   Around 430 now live there up from 150.  Beaver populations in the southern and western Highlands will be allowed to expand naturally under their new legal status; the decision is part of a larger movement to "rewild" natural areas of Great Britain.  Conservationists say the new legislation will help protect beavers from unregulated culls.  A recent 12 year study from Stirling University concluded that beavers increased the complexity of vegetation on wetlands drained for agriculture in Tayside, north of Perth by 71%. Between 2003 and 2015 beavers constructed 195 meters of dams, 500 meters of canals, and an acre of ponds on a private estate.

Increasingly beavers are considered prime means of restoring wetlands, a critical type of ecosystem that is dwindling fast due to human development.  In north Yorkshire, an area devastated by flooding a few years ago, an experiment is undertaken to determine if beaver water works can help control floods. Cropton Forest officials hope that beavers will complement the "Slowing the Flow" project, which has used natural flood management techniques to hold back large volumes of water during flood events.  Drones will be employed to monitor released beaver's building activities in an 18 hectare enclosed area. It seems beavers have come back home to Scotland.