Beaver impact summary

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 1 of 4

Beaver Impacts Summary

The impacts of beavers depend on the hab­it­ats the loc­a­tions that beavers decide to set up a ter­rit­ory in. The impacts can vary from neg­li­gible to unac­cept­able. As defined by NatureScot they are ​‘those that dam­age prop­erty or infra­struc­ture or cause sig­ni­fic­ant prob­lems for land management.’

We’ve care­fully chosen the release loc­a­tions to min­im­ise poten­tial neg­at­ive impacts. Over time the beavers’ ter­rit­or­ies and pop­u­la­tion will expand and will have great­er impacts, both pos­it­ive and neg­at­ive, the mag­nitude of which will be site spe­cif­ic. We are already work­ing with stake­hold­ers to identi­fy, mit­ig­ate and devel­op robust mon­it­or­ing to identi­fy and address con­cerns, for example, the Cairngorms Aspen Group and the Spey Fish­ery Board.

The table below iden­ti­fies the main poten­tial impacts that beavers could have and how these can be mit­ig­ated (lessened to an accept­able level).

Type of site	Poten­tial beaver impact	Sug­ges­ted mitigation
Trans­port infrastructure	Flood­ing from dams	Flow device or dam removal
Trans­port infra­struc­ture culverts	Dam­ming or block­ing by debris	Cul­vert pro­tec­tion and/​or flow device, dam removal
Water treat­ment works	Flood­ing from dams	Flow device or dam removal
Pro­tec­ted landscapes	Felling trees, nib­bling bark	Tree pro­tec­tion mesh or paint
Pro­tec­ted sites	Alter­a­tion of habitats	Mon­it­or­ing then a spe­cif­ic action plan if required
Pro­tec­ted species	Alter­a­tion of habitats	Mon­it­or­ing then a spe­cif­ic action plan if required
Flood embank­ments	Bur­row­ing	Mesh pinned to the banks (but beaver may bur­row under the lower end of the mesh) or sheet piling
Ripari­an woodland	Felling trees	Mon­it­or­ing then a spe­cif­ic action plan if required

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 2 of 4

Gar­dens	Eat­ing veget­ables and trees / bushes	Along­side pro­act­ive plant­ing in key areas, Fen­cing and / or tree protection
Pub­lic health	Very small addi­tion­al risk	Exist­ing water treat­ment régime will suffice
Anim­al health	Neg­li­gible risk	None required
Cul­verts	Dam­ming or block­ing by debris	Cul­vert pro­tec­tion and / or flow device, dam removal
Sep­tic tanks	Flood­ing from dams	Flow device or dam removal

NatureScot pub­lished the River Spey Envir­on­ment­al Report identi­fy­ing spe­cif­ic impacts beavers could have on the Spey catch­ment. You can read the report by click­ing here.

NatureScot are also pro­du­cing a Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Assess­ment to look at impacts upon des­ig­nated sites, hab­it­ats and spe­cies, along with an asso­ci­ated Man­age­ment and Mon­it­or­ing plan, these will be avail­able on their web­site shortly.

Below we out­line our pro­posed approach with­in the Nation­al Park in response to each poten­tial impact iden­ti­fied in the River Spey Envir­on­ment­al Report.

Our approach will be adapt­ive informed by monitoring.

What could be poten­tially affected See Envir­on­ment­al Report for details of impacts	Effect (pos­it­ive or neg­at­ive)	Park Authority’s pro­posed action
Wider biod­iversity	+	None. Research has shown that beavers bring mul­tiple bene­fits for biodiversity
Ripari­an woodland	+ / — the effect is depend­ent on loc­al graz­ing pres­sure (non beaver)	Mon­it­or herb­i­vore graz­ing pres­sure at the release sites

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 3 of 4

Aspen	+ / — the effect on aspen is depend­ent on graz­ing pres­sure (non beaver)	Mon­it­or graz­ing pres­sure on the release sites, Mon­it­or key aspen stands, Pro­tect some key aspen if neces­sary, Increase the amount of aspen and aspen regen­er­a­tion with­in the Park
Bry­ophytes and lichens	+/-	Mon­it­or key sites, Pro­tect some key trees if necessary
Pro­tec­ted plant spe­cies sus­cept­ible to raised water levels	Neut­ral / -	Mon­it­or key sites and imple­ment mit­ig­a­tion if required
Atlantic sal­mon	+/-	Key mon­it­or­ing sites iden­ti­fied by over­lay­ing spawn­ing hab­it­at and dam capa­city data, Imple­ment mit­ig­a­tion if required, Identi­fy if there is a need for research into upstream fish pas­sage and beaver dams, Identi­fy if these is a need for research of the effects of beaver dams on spawn­ing sites
Fresh­wa­ter pearl mussel	+/-	Mon­it­or key sites and imple­ment mit­ig­a­tion if required
Water qual­ity, resource and eco­lo­gic­al status	+	Use dam remov­al as a last resort
Pop­u­la­tion and human health	Neut­ral	Take advice from the High­land Coun­cil Envir­on­ment­al Health Department
Cul­tur­al heritage	Neut­ral	Mon­it­or the his­tor­ic land­scape at Rothiemurchus, Take advice from His­tor­ic Envir­on­ment Scotland
Forestry	+/-	Liaise with wood­land own­ers to identi­fy any issues quickly, Pro­mote estab­lish­ing more ripari­an woodland
Fish­er­ies	+/-	See Atlantic sal­mon, Pub­li­cise mon­it­or­ing and research find­ings on beavers and fish in the Spey Catchment
Agri­cul­ture	+/-	Work with farm­ers to ensure mit­ig­a­tion advice is giv­en promptly and delivered through the NatureScot Man­age­ment & Mit­ig­a­tion Framework

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Page 4 of 4

Rail­ways	Neut­ral / -	Encour­age the uptake of wet­land and ripari­an options that are cur­rently avail­able through gov­ern­ment agri­cul­tur­al sup­port, Cre­ate a lin­ear infra­struc­ture group to dis­cuss com­mon issues, solu­tions and share best practice
Roads	Neut­ral / -	Cre­ate a lin­ear infra­struc­ture group to dis­cuss com­mon issues, solu­tions and share best practice

For more inform­a­tion and descrip­tions of the mit­ig­a­tion devices please see our FAQs on Man­aging Beavers on our web­site, Beavers — Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority