World Biodiversity Day: Beaver trial one of the most positive steps
for Scottish biodiversity in decades

Press Release22nd May 2009

Contact: Kerrigan Bell. Telephone 01309 691292; Email marketing@treesforlife.org.uk.
 

European beaver and kit. Photo by Derek Gow.

Conservation charity Trees for Life today marked World Biodiversity Day (22 May) by praising the imminent Scottish Beaver Trial – which will see beavers living wild in the country for the first time in over 400 years – as one of the most positive steps towards safeguarding and enhancing Scotland’s biodiversity in decades.

In the UK’s first-ever formal mammal reintroduction, beavers from Norway will be reintroduced to Knapdale, Mid-Argyll.

Trees for Life commended the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for their hard work in getting to this stage and said that huge public support for the project demonstrated people’s commitment to enhancing Scotland’s biodiversity.

Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life’s Executive Director, said: “On Biodiversity Day, people and organisations worldwide will be celebrating and conserving our planet’s wondrous but threatened biological diversity. Here in Scotland the imminent release of European beavers at Knapdale in Argyll is a major step forward in reversing our country's long history of biodiversity decline and loss.”

“Let's make this a turning point for conservation in Scotland, by each playing our part by restoring forests and other habitats, protecting wildlife and returning ecosystems to health and balance. Every individual can make a positive contribution to this."

Beavers play a valuable role in creating wetland and other habitats, encouraging a host of other wildlife, from frogs and dragonflies to otters and ospreys. They also help to purify water, prevent flooding and attract tourists, thereby boosting local economies.

The beaver was hunted to extinction in Scotland in the sixteenth century. More information about the Scottish Beaver Trial is available at www.swt.org.uk/campaigns/beaver-reintroduction

People can support Trees for Life’s work restoring the Caledonian Forest in the Scottish Highlands through specially-dedicated trees and Groves, and by planting trees during Conservation Volunteer Weeks.

For more information about Trees for Life call 0845 458 3506, email info@treesforlife.org.uk or visit www.treesforlife.org.uk .

Ends

 

Notes to editors

1. The decision by the Scottish Government to allow a trial reintroduction of European beavers to Mid-Argyll was announced in May 2008. This followed a licence application for the trial submitted in December 2007 by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. The submission was made after a two-month long consultation revealed that more than 73% of respondents from Mid-Argyll supported the trial reintroduction.
2. Trees for Life is a pioneering charity in ecological restoration. It aims to restore the Caledonian Forest to an area of 1,500 square kilometres in the Highlands west of Inverness.
3. Since planting its first trees in 1991 in Glen Affric, Trees for Life has planted over 800,000 trees. Its awards include 1991 UK Conservation Project of the Year, the Millennium Marque in 2000 and Top 10 Conservation Holidays worldwide (in 2009).

 

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Published: 8th June 2009
Last updated: 26 January 2010