Environment minister asks for plans to be drawn up, despite fears over impact

They're cute, they cut down trees and at last they could be coming home. After seven years of political delays, beavers now look set to be reintroduced to Scotland.

The new environment minister, Michael Russell, wants to bring the tail-slapping, dam-building, tree-gnawing mammals back. And he's prepared to risk the wrath of landowners to do so.

In one of his first acts as an SNP minister, Russell will this week ask Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to draw up new plans to reintroduce the beaver. The wildlife agency originally applied for a trial reintroduction in 2000, but was turned down in 2005 by Labour and LibDem ministers after a series of delays.

"The beaver is a part of our natural heritage which was destroyed by man," Russell told the Sunday Herald. "I think the time is right to ask SNH to make new proposals, taking into account the objections that led to the refusal, and I look forward to considering them as soon as they can be brought forward."

He pointed out that SNH's previous proposal had had "strong backing" and that beavers had been successfully reintroduced in over 20 European countries. "Given the loss of species worldwide we are going to have to learn a lot about reintroduction," he said.

"Getting more practical experience will be crucial, and a project such as this - in which we can learn from others and make our own contribution to restoring Scotland's biodiversity - seems to me to have many positive possibilities."

Beavers were hunted to extinction in Scotland more than 400 years ago. They were killed both for their fur and for castoreum, the oil they secrete.

Bringing beavers back now would be the first ever planned reintroduction of a mammal into Scotland. To date only birds, such as the sea eagle and the red kite, have been officially reintroduced.

SNH's previous proposal was to import up to 20 European beavers from Norway and release them at Knapdale wildlife reserve in mid-Argyll.

But local landowners vociferously objected, fearing that the incomers might damage the environment.

The plan has been welcomed by Simon Milne, chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. "As a keystone species, the beaver will help to restore depleted wetland habitats and bring benefits to a wide range of species," he said.

Rhona Brankin, Labour's shadow cabinet secretary for rural affairs, and a former environment minister, said: "I welcome this issue being reopened. But I have a huge concern that public funding isn't diverted from the protection of native species which are endangered, like the red squirrel."

The National Farmers Union Scotland said it was not against a trial reintroduction, but was concerned that beavers, once released, would be difficult to control.