In article , Tim Lamb
wrote:
Of course trapping the water up stream also requires constant intervention
but that can be done free of charge as long as you get the right
workforce* on the job.

Hmm.. The TV presentation of the current release of European Beavers
implied that they are not destructive and do not build dams but I may have
misheard:-)

They are not destructive but they do build dams. Their usefulness is in the
dams that hold the water giving it time to soak into the ground and re-appear
on the surface lower down the valley after (or long after) the first rush of a
storm. Rather than destroying great swathes of woodland Castor fiber manage it
to the benefit of both the vegetation and other animals. There really isn't a
downside and their absence has caused many problems for us over the years.

Re-introductions of C. fiber to western Europe have taken place over the years
(from memory since the 50s?) with little or no problem.

My daughter studied the proposals for re-introduction for her MSc and was
*very* sceptical from the start. She is particularly scathing about the mess
made in introduction of European animals in Australia but ended up supporting
the proposed C. fiber project considering it only too little, too late, and
why only Scotland?

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John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
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