Scotland's Climate Week 2025: Working with partners to support beaver populations

As part of Scotland’s Climate Week we are highlighting some of our work with key partners across national forests and land to ensure we’re climate ready together. At the end of last year we provided an update on our efforts to release beavers in Loch Ard forest. This is an important part of our work alongside Beaver Trust to improve Scotland’s biodiversity.

Growing beaver populations

In April this year we released another pair of beavers at Loch Ard forest. They were released into a small lochan with wet woodland surrounding the edge of the water. This site was assessed by both Beaver Trust and our environment foresters and identified as the perfect habitat for beavers.

According to Katy Anderson, Central Region Environment Forester:

“Loch Ard Forest is already proving to be the perfect place for beavers to establish themselves and make their mark on the landscape – becoming fully integrated into the local ecosystem.  

“It is an ideal setting to help the new arrivals ease into their new life. The mix of extensive wetlands, wet woodland and new native woodland should make them feel very much at home.

“We’ve been a key partner in the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland since hosting the Scottish Wildlife Trust and RZSS-led Scottish Beaver Trial at Knapdale back in 2009, where beavers were introduced into Loch Coille Bharr and soon moved upstream into Loch Barnluasgan.”

This release took the number of beavers we have released across Scotland up to 35 in the space of 18 months.

Beavers in the Trossachs

Beavers started naturally recolonising rivers and lochs in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in 2012. They moved from previously established populations in the Tay and Earn catchment areas.

Simon Jones, Director of Environment and Visitors Services for Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, said:

“We warmly welcome the news of this latest beaver release at Loch Ard Forest. This marks another significant milestone in a long-running programme of collaborative and responsible beaver reintroductions, carried out in partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland and the Beaver Trust. 

These reintroductions clearly demonstrate the substantial benefits that nature and local communities can experience when conservation projects are managed with care, responsibility, and cooperation.”

Beavers and biodiversity

Beavers mainly live in freshwater lochs, slow-moving rivers and burns. They feel safe when they are surrounded by water. If there are no natural ponds they will build dams in rivers and lochs to create them. This might seem like it damages the woods, but they act as natural felling operations that encourage new growth. Their activities create habitats used by countless species of plants, fungi, fish, invertebrates, amphibians, and mammals for food, shelter, and reproduction.

You can learn more about existing beaver populations at Knapdale. They can also be found in locations east and central Scotland - as well as Loch Morlic. There was a Cairngorms National Park Authorities-led release on the loch - outwith existing populations on our land.

We are planning further releases to help support the Scottish Government’s beaver strategy, which aims to “actively expand the population to new catchments” and is also looking at the suitability of other sites in the north which are suitable for releases.