The whole point of the licenced release trials is to develop a better understanding of the impacts of beavers in terms of a range of factors such as impact on habitats, hydrology, and probably most importantly to examine conflicts with land use such as farming, forestry and fisheries. And based on the trails, develop appropriate strategies to deal with beavers being in the wrong place such as trapping or relocation. and in my opinion culling were necessary. If Defra want buy in from landowners then those landowners need the confidence that an exit strategy is in place.
In my opinion, if Defra/NE were genuinely serious about exploring beaver reintroduction across the wider landscape, then they would deal with landowner conflicts in a much more professional fashion. Tim's experience sounds dismal, but having been involved in the management of a number of SSSI's in the last 20 years, I can completely relate to the frustration of being on the end of NE incompetence.
I'm involved with two potential licenced release sites, both SSSI's, and it seems the bureaucracy is interminable. I genuinely don't think within the higher levels of Defra there the genuine will to licence beavers release trials. The whole process seems interminable and designed to deter applicants.
To me it seems pretty obvious that beavers won't be suitable everywhere, clearly there are potentially issues with them in landscapes with highly managed water levels, but equally it seems pretty obvious to be that in the right landscapes the potential benefits are enormous. The weight of biological evidence is beyond compelling, and I've seen it with my own eyes. The whole thing will be totally undermined if a squeamish approach is taken to beavers in the wrong landscapes - clearly you can't have beavers flooding Grade 1 arable growing high value crops. But in some areas some localised flooding of farmland can be a good thing. It may be the increased localised flooding of marginal land in headwaters may actually result in a net increase in food production as more productive land downstream is then subjected to less flooding. These things will have to considered on a catchment basis - clearly no one cap fits all.
And now that the entire CAP budget (£3.2bn) that was mostly spent on giving landowners money simply by virtue of them having land, is now being completely directed into environmentally sustainable farming and land management; the money and mechanisms are there to compensate farmers and landowners for any losses incurred. And given that trying to make a living producing food on marginal land is almost impossible within a globalised market, for many businesses, diversifying into farming water will be more profitable.
One thing is abundantly clear to most people working in land management and farming, is that the future is going to be so profoundly challenging, that business-as-usual is simply not an option, and all options need to be on the table. This includes Natural Flood Management and regenerative farming techniques, as well as hard engineered solutions.
www.wiltshirewildlife.org
