OK, it sounds crazy. $1.4 million on four beaver families? What are the Scots thinking? Maybe they just have more money than sense. Even though I’m a naturalist at heart, that was the first thought that popped into my head when I read about this last night. So, what is really going on?
Beavers used to be part of the Scottish wildlife scene, that is until Homo sapiens changed things. No doubt someone out there is saying, “Great! I’m glad those tree felling, dam and flood causing, pesky, big furry rats are gone! I wish we could get rid of them too!” Sure enough, in some parts of the good ol’ USA people do complain about pesky beavers. It is legal to trap beavers in Kansas and people have even blown up a beaver dam using dynamite! But, it turns out that it’s not just the Scots who are up to beaver reintroduction. They’re up to the same thing in Russia and England. Apparently, thirteen countries in Europe have already reintroduced the beaver. So why would the Scots want to bring some new beaver immigrants to their shores?
The argument goes something like this. Beavers are not just cute and furry rodents; they’re a keystone species for wet woodland and forest. They are much better at managing habitat for wildlife than people are. They coppice our woods (a man-power intensive task) for free, restore wetlands (better than a JCB can), benefit dragonflies, provide habitat and fish for otters, make ponds for ducks to breed in, and bring revenue through wildlife tourism; wildlife tourism brings around $4 million per annum to Scotland. That doesn’t sound so bad, assuming you care about the planet, but how come four beavers are going to cost $1.4 million? Do the Scots really want this and what are they actually going to do?
A two month long consultation during 2007 showed that over 73% of Mid-Argyll (that’s an area in Scotland) respondents supported a trial reintroduction of beavers. We’re not talking here about bringing some beavers and dumping them in the Scottish countryside then just hoping that good things will happen. A license for a trial has been granted. The trial will involve not only transportation and quarantine for the beavers, but tracking of the beavers with radio collars, extensive monitoring, visitor management and education. The whole trial is going to take six years! That’s a lot of monitoring and monitoring = jobs and jobs = cost.
Perhaps the Scots are not as crazy as it seemed., but then maybe that depends on whether you’d rather watch cute, furry beavers to earn your pay, or be digging ponds with a JCB and coppicing trees with a chainsaw. Personally I think the beavers can do a much better job of caring for their habitat than I ever would. I’m also sure they don’t guzzle gasoline to do it!
What do you think? Is this crazy, or would you give a few $ for their project?
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