Appendix 3 – SSSI consent for beaver release

NatureScot Scotland’s Nature Agency Buid­heann Nàdair na h‑Alba

Mr G Moir Per Mr J Wil­let Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own on Spey Moray PH26 3HG

16 Octo­ber 2023

Dear Mr Willet

SSSI con­sent for the release of beaver at ⬛ of Spe­cial Sci­entif­ic Interest (SSSI), and River Spey – Insh Marshes SSSI

Thank you for your let­ter of 8 Septem­ber 2023, apply­ing for con­sent to carry out the fol­low­ing operation(s) likely to dam­age the pro­tec­ted nat­ur­al feature(s) of ⬛ and River Spey – Insh Marshes SSSIs:

• Release of beavers over a num­ber of years (to be determ­ined by NatureScot licence) at agreed loc­a­tions on these des­ig­nated sites. A num­ber of beavers to be released (num­bers as set out in NatureScot licence).

• No con­struc­tion or oth­er mater­i­al change will be car­ried out on the des­ig­nated sites.

This let­ter super­sedes the pre­vi­ous let­ter sent on 6 Octo­ber 2023.

Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age (here­in­after referred to as NatureScot) con­sents to the above proposal(s) being car­ried out in the man­ner, tim­ing and loc­a­tion specified.

In accord­ance with sec­tion 13(6) of the Nature Con­ser­va­tion (Scot­land) Act 2004, we have the fol­low­ing advice in rela­tion to the con­sen­ted operation:

• Mon­it­or­ing of the effects of the beavers should be car­ried out as set out in the Mon­it­or­ing Plan.

• Should beavers impact on fea­tures of the des­ig­nated sites, remedi­al action will be taken in accord­ance with the Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Appraisal.

In decid­ing to grant this con­sent, NatureScot has taken account of its require­ment under Reg­u­la­tion 48 of the Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions to con­sider the effect of the pro­pos­al on the fol­low­ing over­lap­ping European sites:

• River Spey SAC
• River Spey — Insh Marshes SPA
• Insh Marshes SAC
• Cairngorms SAC
• Cairngorms SPA

Achantoul, Aviemore PH22 1QD Achadh an t‑Sabhail, An Aghaidh Mhòr PH22 1QD 01463 725219 nature.scot NatureScot is the oper­at­ing name of Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Heritage

Our con­clu­sion is that the pro­pos­al is likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the qual­i­fy­ing interests of the SAC/​SPAs but on the basis of an appro­pri­ate assess­ment car­ried out by NatureScot, we have determ­ined that the pro­pos­al will not adversely affect the integ­rity of the sites.

This con­sent only exempts any leg­al pro­vi­sion, in accord­ance with sec­tion 13(1) of the Nature Con­ser­va­tion (Scot­land) Act 2004, as described above and does not remove any oth­er leg­al responsibilities.

Yours sin­cerely

⬛ Oper­a­tions Officer NatureScot