Monitoring the Beavers

SNH sets out role in beaver trial 

As beavers are released back into the wild in the UK for
the first time in over 400 years, in Knapdale, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) outlined its
role monitoring the trial reintroduction in detail. 

When the Scottish Government gave the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) and the
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) the go-ahead for the trial in May
2008, they also asked SNH to monitor the trial and report to Ministers on its
outcome. 

Monitoring the relationship between beavers and woodland, water plants, river
habitat, water levels, otters, dragonflies, damselflies and freshwater fish will
be part of the environmental work carried out by SNH. The beavers themselves
will also be under close scrutiny, using tracking data collected by SWT and
RZSS. SNH will co-ordinate the scientific monitoring work with a range of
independent bodies, including Oxford University Wildlife Conservation Research
Unit and the Argyll Fisheries Trust. The Scottish Environmental Protection
Agency (SEPA) will monitor water chemistry, Historic Scotland, a crannog in Loch
Coille-Bharr, and Argyll and Bute Council, public health.

SNH is contributing £275,000 to the cost of monitoring the trial. The Scottish
Beaver Trial project partners, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal
Zoological Society of Scotland, have raised the rest of the project costs from
private donations and grants, including Biffaward, the People’s Postcode
Lottery and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species.

Professor Colin Galbraith, Director of Policy and Advice for SNH said: “We
are pleased that the trial is underway, as it provides the best opportunity to
see how beavers fit into the Scottish countryside, in a carefully planned and
managed way. 

“SNH has a key role in monitoring progress and in reporting the outcome of
the trial to Ministers in due course. The scientific trial will measure and
evaluate the beavers’ interactions with the local environment. We are
especially grateful to have the help of several other organisations in carrying
out our monitoring role. Importantly, the monitoring programme carried out by
SNH and others will be transparent and open. Relevant reports and other outputs
will be available to the public on the SNH website so that everyone can see how
the trial has gone and how the beavers have settled in.” 

The trial will be a major contribution to Scotland’s Species Action
Framework, which identifies 32 species, including European beaver, as the focus
of new management action.