Scottish Natural Heritage
Re-wilding Scotland: The Past and Future of
Conservation Translocations
Martin Gaywood – Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
This talk will cover:
— Some background and examples of translocations
— Case study – European beaver
— A way forward
Scottish Natural Heritage
White-tailed eagle
– a national reintroduction
Vendace
– a national reintroduction
Pine hoverfly
– a local reintroduction
and reinforcement
Woolly willow
– a local reintroduction and
reinforcement
www.snh.gov.uk/speciesactionframework
Scottish Natural Heritage
Other recent conservation
translocations have
included… water vole,
freshwater pearl mussel and
small cow-wheat.
www.snh.gov.uk/speciesactionframework
…and
Scotland
as a donor for reintroductions
Scottish
Natural Heritage
Osprey reintroduction to Spain
•12 Scottish ospreys have just been
released on the North Spanish coast
for the first time
•Follows on from an earlier
reintroduction to Andalusia in
southern Spain where there are now
13 breeding pairs
The Golden Eagle Reintroduction Project
in Ireland.
•First releases in 2001 using Scottish
eagles,
•75 chicks over ten year period – from
nests with twins, none from ‘Special
Protection Areas’
Scottish Natural Heritage
Case study – European beaver
Extinct around 16th century
1995 - SNH started work to assess feasibility and
desirability of beaver reintroduction.
A licence required from the Minister before any
release into the wild (address IUCN Reintroduction
Guidelines)
Distribution of potential
Scottish Natural Heritage
beaver
habitat in
mainland Scotland.
Red areas – Potential habitat networks
which may be of sufficient size to support
viable populations.
Green areas – Potential habitat networks,
but may be of insufficient size to support
viable populations.
Scottish Natural Heritage
Research led by SNH:
See www.snh.org.uk/scottishbeavertrial
— Review of historical evidence in Scotland
— Comparative morphology + potential donor
populations
— Development of beaver habitat survey protocols
— Review of dam-building and hydrology
— Review of beavers and fish/fisheries
— Review of beavers and woodland habitats
— Identification of potential beaver habitat in Scotland
— Predictive models of a future beaver population
Scottish Natural Heritage
Is it ‘desirable’ to reintroduce beaver to
Scotland?
— A national public consultation was
undertaken in 1998.
Scottish Natural Heritage
Is it ‘desirable’ to reintroduce beaver to
Scotland?
National consultation
‘passive public’
In
favour
63%
Against
12%
2,141 responses
Didn't
know
25%
Scottish Natural Heritage
Is it ‘desirable’ to reintroduce beaver to
Scotland?
In summary – Most people
in favour of a reintroduction
but some interest groups
had concerns.
A trial reintroduction was
therefore proposed.
Scottish Natural Heritage
The Scottish Beaver Trial (SBT) – What’s it for?
Animals released in 2009
Approved by the Scottish Government
Managed by 2 NGOs - SWT and RZSS
on FCS land
Main purpose of the project is to
undertake a scientific trial in order to
monitor the beavers and the effects of
the beavers (by SNH and partners)
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Natural Heritage
Recent history
1990s-early 00s - Range of studies looking at beaver
reintroduction issues + European experience
1998 - National consultation
2000 – Plans for a trial reintroduction
2005 - First licence application rejected by SG
2008 - Second licence application approved by SG
2009 - First beavers released for the Trial at Knapdale
2010 – Beaver-Salmonid Working Group established
2012 - Ministerial announcement on Tayside beavers
2015 – Minister receives reports on beaver reintroduction
Scottish Natural Heritage
Why so long…or so quick ?!
— Preparation and addressing the IUCN Guidelines
— A national debate played out in a range of fora,
including the media, a range of real and perceived issues
(the issue of ‘human-wildlife conflicts’)
Scottish Natural Heritage
Why reintroduce the beaver ?
- the supporters’ views
— European law
— Moral grounds
— Public desire
— A keystone species – biodiversity
— A symbol for wider habitat restoration (‘beaver lever’!)
— Provider of ecosystem services
— Socio-economic, including eco-tourism, education and
interpretation
Scottish Natural Heritage
Why reintroduce the beaver ?
- the opponents’ views
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Public health
Detrimental to biodiversity
Equivalent to introduction of invasive non-natives
Precedent for other species reintroductions
Exit strategy not realistic
Cost - diverted from other conservation projects
Cost - from damage (burrowing, grazing, flooding):
•Fisheries (salmonids)
•Forestry
•Agriculture
•‘Infrastructure’
Scottish Natural Heritage
Human-wildlife conflicts
— Arise when parties with different, strongly held views
clash over species management and when one party tries to
assert their interests at the expense of the other
— The aim of conflict management is to bring those parties
involved in a dispute together to seek shared solutions within
a legislative framework
— Conflicts are fundamentally about people – need to build
trust, link science and local knowledge, understand variation
in attitudes across conflicts, build partnerships and
constructive media relations
Milner, J.M. & Redpath, S.M. 2013. Building an evidence
base for managing species conflict in Scotland. SNH
Commissioned Report No. 611.
Scottish Natural Heritage
National Species Reintroduction Forum
•
•
•
•
Formed 2009
Chaired by SNH
25 member organisations
All types of conservation
translocation
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS
• British Waterways
• *Butterfly Conservation Scotland
• *Bumblebee Conservation Trust
• **Loch Lomond & Trossachs NP
• Plantlife
• Scottish Ornithologist’s Club
• Scottish Water
FULL MEMBERS
• Association of Salmon Fishery Boards
• British Association of Shooting and Conservation
• Buglife (*on behalf of all 3 invert NGOs)
• Cairngorms NP (**on behalf of both NPs)
• Confederation of Forest Industries
• Forestry Commission Scotland
• Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust
• Highland Wildlife Foundation
• National Farmers Union Scotland
• Royal Botanic Garden (Edinburgh)
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
• Scottish Countryside Alliance
• Scottish Government
• Scottish Gamekeepers Association
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Scottish Land and Estates
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• Scottish Wildlife Trust
Scottish Natural Heritage
National Species Reintroduction Forum
Role: To contribute to broad scale, strategic issues relating
to conservation translocations in Scotland.
Including:
• To contribute to the decision-making process for any new national
reintroduction projects.
• To seek to form a collective view based on sound evidence.
• To encourage and stimulate the development of best practice in conservation
translocation work, and to support the application of the IUCN Guidelines.
• To identify the risks, consequences, benefits and gaps in information
(including legal aspects) necessary to plan, assess, or implement
translocations.
Scottish Natural Heritage
National Species Reintroduction Forum
• Beaver-Salmonid Working Group – outputs due in 2014
Scottish Natural Heritage
National Species Reintroduction Forum
• SNH report on the use of derogations for reintroduced
species in Europe 2012 (Pillai, A. et al.)
Scottish Natural Heritage
National Species Reintroduction Forum
• The Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations and
associated best practice guidance (due for publication
2014)
• Linked to the IUCN Guidelines, with a Scottish focus
• Provides advice and guidance on what to consider when
proposing, planning or doing a translocation
• Emphasis on socio-economic issues – people !
• The identification and management of risks, and
opportunities
• Produced in collaboration with all NSRF members
Scottish Natural Heritage
What next?
• Some high profile projects are continuing (e.g. beaver), and the
issue of post-release management will become increasingly
important
• New proposals – ‘aspirational list’ of species
• The predator debate – bears, wolves and lynx
• Anticipate that conservation translocations will be an increasingly
used tool – including assisted colonisations ?
Scottish Natural Heritage
Assisted colonisation
Scottish Government 2013
• “Develop a strategic programme for
re-establishing species lost locally or
nationally, or threatened by climate
change and other pressures and take
this forward through the National
Species Reintroduction Forum”
SNH 2012
• “Consider translocation of species in
circumstances where assessments
indicate the likely loss of a species
despite new management measures,
and where there are suitable areas for
nature to adapt”
Scottish Natural Heritage
Assisted colonisation
Where should we put things?
• Can we predict where to put a species now ?
• If climate is a strong driver of the species’ distribution, can we then
predict where it will be “climate proof” ?
A field trial – An alpine lichen species Flavocetraria nivalis
• Model built from 5 survey ‘training sites’
• Model applied to recipient sites
• BUT so far the model has no predictive power ! Work continues
until 2015
Information/images courtesy of Rob Brooker, Antonia Eastwood, Andrea Britton, Alessandro
Gimona (JHI) Chris Ellis (RBGE), David Genney (SNH).
Scottish Natural Heritage
What next?
• A continuing need to devise ways to improve
translocation success where it happens, not only
through the application of biological sciences, but also
through reducing conflict where necessary
• The involvement and support of people is vital in
ensuring eventual success and the restoration of
viable and self-sustaining populations.
Scottish Natural
Thank
you.Heritage