Duane Nash alerts us to this amazing documentary called “Radioactive Wolves” which aired on Nature PBS in October. It’s about wildlife returning to the former Chernobyl nuclear plant radioactive zone. Guess what species is doing the really heavy lifting?  If you remember the speech from Leonard Houston at the State of the Beaver Conference I reprinted here, you won’t be surprised. The power plant was built in a region that was once forest and marshland, and then was reclaimed for crops with canals to feed the population. You’ll never guess how things are working out. Watch until at least 16:00.

Leonard began with

“Within this strangely pastoral setting the animals go about their business, sometimes finding uses for what we’ve left behind. The wolves rise up on their hind legs to peer through the windows of houses, looking for routes to the rooftops, which they use as observation posts for hunting. Eagles build nests in fire towers. Deer, elk, bison and wild horses flourish in abandoned farm fields.

 As to the beavers, they have shown an amazing resiliency to some of the worlds most cataclysmic events, in large surpassing sciences understanding of what we call sustainable habitat. Beavers, forced out decades ago when the landscape was engineered for collective agriculture, have already undone much of man’s work converting polluted swamps to free flowing rivers and restoring one of central Europe’s great marshlands.”

I love the shot of the watershed teaming with life, and the long list of species that beavers help. It almost makes me feel like the planet will carry on just fine if we only get the pesky humans out of the way. There is also a good segment on radioactive wolves that you can watch later. Right now we need to talk about this wonderful article discussing the final stages of the Knapdale project.

Something to chew over: will beavers be reintroduced to Scotland?

The Scottish Beaver Trial is a unique and exciting conservation project and if it is a success, beavers could once again become a common sight in our countryside. Caroline Lindsay finds out more.

But how has this reintroduction gone down with the general public? Beavers are known to benefit the environment in many ways: as tree felling, dam building champions, they are what’s known as a keystone species — one which affects the survival and abundance of other wildlife in the community in which it lives.

 Beavers create ponds and wetlands, which attract other species such as frogs, toads, water voles, otters, dragonflies, birds and fish, and even help improve water quality. In woodlands, beavers help to stimulate new growth by gnawing on tree stems and coppicing.  This helps to breathe new life into tired forests and creates a diverse age range of trees, which greatly benefits woodland management.

 That said, a recent YouGov poll has found that 60% of us support the project.

 Simon Jones, project manager of the Scottish Beaver Trial, explains: “This is the first formal trial reintroduction of a mammal ever to take place in the UK and it is really positive to see majority support for the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland.

 “Separate feedback from several business owners in the Argyll area has also been positive and suggests that the Scottish Beaver Trial has boosted visitor numbers.

Call me an optimist, but with a majority of public support, documented financial benefit and the fact that there are already 150 free beavers in Scotland good sense might just tip the scales. My guess is that there will be a formal decision to reintroduce/tolerate the species with some kind of accommodation ruling that the animals can still be killed if they’re causing a problem, (to mollify the farmers). All in all it’s been a pretty good trial and a great public ad campaign for beavers. Where else did you ever read the word “coppice” besides this website before the Knapdale trial? Now its practically common knowledge.

Oh and finally, kudos to our indispensable Cheryl Reynolds, whose photos were on the CBS website yesterday when International Bird Rescue saved a family of duckings in the Fairfield Sears auto!

Congratulations Cheryl! Now hurry up and help all those baby birds being brought in every day, because you’ll soon need all your free time to devote to taking pictures of baby beavers.