The Ecologist has a glorious account of the Scottish ‘come to beavers’ moment. But it has taken them literally no time to start planning for their expansion. Their argument is that the Great Glen is a barrier between the upper highlands that beavers cannot pass without some help. Funds are already being moved to help that happen.
Scotland’s wild beavers win legal protection
The Scottish government has announced that its wild beaver populations will be given the full protection of both UK and EU law. The decision has been welcomed by campaigners who point out all the benefits of beavers to biodiversity, water management and flood control. Now, they say, England and Wales should follow suit.
Now let’s introduce them north of the Great Glen!
Welcoming the Scottis
h government’s decision to allow reintroduced beavers to remain in the country announced today, Trees for Life said that it plans to move ahead with investigating the possibilities for bringing beavers to areas north of the Great Glen, working with local communities to identify where they might live without perceived adverse impacts.
Steve Micklewright, Trees for Life’s Chief Executive said: “Today’s decision means that beavers can naturally spread through Scotland in the future. There is a lot of space in the Highlands where they could thrive, improving the region for other wildlife and providing a tourist attraction that will benefit the local economy.”
However, the main obstacle to the natural spread of beavers to the Highlands is geography, he added: “The Great Glen presents a natural barrier to beavers colonising the area on their own from the existing populations in Argyll and Tayside, so the only way to be sure they will return to the northwest Highlands would be to give them a helping hand.
“While it is certain that beavers could live in the Highlands, the next step is to ensure they would be a welcome addition to the landscape. That is why we plan to work out where they would be welcome. Then we plan to enter in to dialogue with the government to explore how we can help them to return to those areas.”
The Great Glen refers to a seismic fault separating the upper bits of Scotland from the lower, its mountainous ranges mean that no watershed passes through it or connects it to other rivers and streams. The Geologic Society describes it thus:
The Great Glen is a huge valley, eroded by glaciers more than 10,000 years ago. These glaciers carved the valley below present-day sea level, forming a series of deep lakes. Loch Ness is the largest and most famous of the lakes.
Looking at the maps I can see how a beaver could follow the Tay river all the way up along the A9 to the Cairgorn mountains but really see how they get from there over the Glen.
Except for the fact that we know something about beavers that they don’t.
You might want to go read up on beavers colonizing the Aleutian islands in Alaska and fjords in Norway by using saltwater. Just a suggestion.
