SNH position on re-wilding

Andrew Bachell, SNH's Director of Policy & Advice, said:

“We agree that many of Scotland’s wild areas are heavily grazed and eroded and a re-wilding approach in these places could offer significant biodiversity gains, in turn benefiting tourism, woodland production and employment for the people of Scotland by maintaining a rich and diverse natural environment. But re-wilding isn't just about releasing large animals and, in fact, doesn't have to include reintroduced species at all. Re-wilding is also about regenerating natural woodland or allowing areas of coast that flood naturally to flood again, and creating wildlife corridors. The new organisation, Rewilding Britain, points out that only 12 percent of the UK is forested; there are already targets in Scotland to increase woodland. There are also already many upland estates, such as Quinag, Mar Lodge and Abernethy (run by JMT, NTS and RSPB), as well as SNH national nature reserves, Beinn Eighe and Creag Meagaidh, where the principles of re-wilding are already put into action.

"Many people and organisations work together to manage Scotland's landscape and wildlife, so changes have to be discussed and agreed with our many partners, working with the public, land managers, farmers and others.

"We‘ve already had a number of highly successful national reintroductions in Scotland, including sea eagles and red kites, as well as more local reintroductions such as the scarce woolly willow. The Scottish Government is also currently considering the possibility of reintroducing Eurasian beaver.

“We have no plans to reintroduce any more animals to Scotland at this time. If any third party – such as the Lynx UK Trust which are currently looking into applying for a licence - wants to pursue a reintroduction, they will have to go through the various steps required. We know, on the basis of experience, that reintroduction projects are complex and need considerable planning to ensure national and international guidelines are met. Scotland’s National Species Reintroduction Forum is a world leader in how reintroductions are determined and has produced the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations specifically designed to guide project development.

“If we received an application to reintroduce a species, we’d look for the applicant to provide information on how the project would address ecological issues such as habitat availability, as well as the views of the public, livestock and land managers, the wider UK perspective, and any socio-economic impacts. The views of the Scottish Government would need to be taken into consideration.”