Bringing beavers back to the Cairngorms National Park - Cairngorms National Park
Next steps could see beavers here by this Autumn
Beavers are a step closer to returning to the Cairngorms National Park with the formal public engagement process getting underway next week. Once completed, the Cairngorms National Park Authority – who are leading on the reintroduction project – will submit a licence application to return this lost species to the Park after an absence of more than 400 years.
The Park Authority is working closely with a range of partners and land managers on a carefully considered proposal to translocate beavers from the Tay catchment to the upper Spey catchment. The release sites are at Rothiemurchus, Wildland Cairngorms and RSPB Scotland Insh Marshes.
Beavers are considered ‘nature’s engineers’ with an incredible ability to rework, restore and re-naturalise the landscape, helping combat climate change and boost biodiversity. From coppicing riverside trees to damming smaller water courses, creating narrow canals and rich wetlands, beavers create the ideal habitat for wildlife to thrive, as well as slowing the flow of water which reduces flood risk downstream.
Following a series of informal ‘Beaver Blethers’ back in March, the Park Authority and partners are back out on the road to speak with residents, farmers, business-owners, fishery interests and other groups as part of the formal six week public engagement process, which runs from 14 August to 25 September. The information gathered at this second series of ‘Beaver Blethers’, will help inform the licence application to NatureScot.
Posted On: 10/08/2023
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