The Scottish Wildlife Trust is surprised and concerned by NatureScot’s decision to delay the recent application by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) and Trees for Life to release beavers in Glen Affric. Beavers were officially accepted back into the Scottish landscape in 2016 following the successful Scottish Beaver Trial. This decision recognised the vital role beavers play in shaping ecosystems and creating habitat for many other species, as well as the socio-economic benefits they can bring in the form of ecotourism opportunities.

Scotland’s Beaver Strategy, the creation of which involved over 50 stakeholder organisations with a range of perspectives, was released in 2022 with a vision of beavers actively expanding into appropriate areas and communities being supported to realise the benefits of beavers while minimising negative impacts through adaptive management and mitigation. The Strategy identifies nurturing stakeholder trust through transparent decision making as a key part of its vision and Goal 3 of the Strategy is to “ensure a transparent, inclusive, timely and straightforward translocation licence application process to build trust and engagement”.

The FLS-led application was the cumulation of an exemplary community consultation and engagement process, spanning nearly two years, resulting in a 2:1 majority in favour of a beaver release. The proposed release site lies within the Beauly catchment which, following Strategic Environmental Assessment by NatureScot, has been identified as one of the top 10 most suitable catchments for beavers in Scotland. Furthermore, beavers are already present in the area and have been for a number of years.

Taking all these factors into consideration within the context of Scotland’s Beaver Strategy, it is difficult to see what is causing the delay in NatureScot’s decision. This is not the first time that the transparency and consistency of NatureScot’s process for assessing beaver translocation applications has come into question; Scottish Environment LINK has sought clarity from NatureScot on this issue several times in the past two-years.

The Trust urges NatureScot to prioritise the development of a standardised, transparent approach to beaver translocation applications, both to honour the goals of the Strategy and to ensure that time and resources spent on consultation are proportionate and can be predicted by the applicant.

Beavers provide a cost-effective nature-based solution to the twin climate and biodiversity crises and are an integral part of a healthy river ecosystem. If we are to see beavers achieve Favourable Conservation Status in Scotland, it is vital that landowners with suitable sites to rehome beavers from areas of conflict are encouraged to come forward and are not put off from engaging with the process due its current complexity and unpredictability.

For more on the Trust’s views on beaver policy, read our recent blog on conservation and conflict in beaver policy and our response to the release of Scotland’s Beaver Strategy.