the project NORTHERN ENGLAND’S LOST SPECIES OPPORTUNITIES FOR REINTRODUCTION LIFESCAPE REPORT 2020 Lifescape Report 2020 The Lifescape Project aims to create For examples of our current projects, please transformed landscapes which are take a look at our website. We are always ecologically diverse and which inspire the eager to hear new ideas that could help to communities which live in and value them, in support our goals, so please contact us order to secure a sustainable future for all life through our website if you think we can be of on earth. This report includes images of wild assistance: landscapes across Europe which still The Lifescape Project is a not-for-profit https://lifescapeproject.org contain many of the species now lost from partnership which was formed by a number of Northern England. These images have been included as beautiful and inspiring organisations with experience in large scale examples of landscapes containing more conservation-based projects and the ecological, complete ecosystems and ecological social, economic and legal considerations behind processes than much of the UK them. Image on next page: Buttermere Lake, The Lake District, Cumbria, The United Kingdom Image on this page: Gran Sasso and Mointi della Laga National Park, Abruzzo, Italy Lifescape Report 2020 Lifescape Report 2020 OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSE Through the information in this report, we In line with IUCN Guidelines on reintroductions hope to open up a debate on the and translocations, this report includes a reintroduction of species which are consideration of the benefits and costs that currently locally extinct in Northern these species could provide for local England by highlighting a range of exciting communities, economies and businesses, and reintroduction possibilities that exist in just explores whether bringing back these extinct this one part of the UK. species to Northern England could be of overall benefit to those who live and work there. This report provides an evidence base for engagement, and we hope it inspires local wildlife and community groups to develop their In this light, the report does not propose to own reintroduction programmes. make any decisions for local communities. We recognise that whilst these species are exciting to those of us who are already passionate about their conservation and ecological benefits, not everyone shares this position. Lifescape Report 2020 OUR CORE OBJECTIVES We want to make it clear that this report is The core objective of this report is to provide an overview of the ecological, social and not promoting any specific species for economic impacts of reintroducing some of the species which are currently missing from reintroduction in any particular area. Northern England. The wider aims of this report are to: This is an important decision that local communities • Promote awareness of the animal species that have become extinct in Northern must make with accurate and impartial information to England due principally to human influences; hand. Our aim is to provide information that will help • Build an understanding of the benefits and costs associated with reintroducing to inform local debate and initiatives, and we hope to missing species within the local communities that might one day see those species develop an approach that can be repeated return; elsewhere around the country. Following publication • Provide an evidence base for identifying which of those species may be most suitable of the report, we plan to discuss the issues raised for reintroduction into Northern England; with local communities in Northern England through • Inspire engagement and community discussion around species reintroduction; various events and workshops. • Contribute to the discussion around on reintroductions that has been set in motion by the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan; and • Provide a template for other organisations to assess the suitability of species reintroductions in other areas. Lifescape Report 2020 6 226322-4-145-v2.7 70-40684805 Lifescape Report 2020 WHY THESE SPECIES? Through this process, a shortlist of 16 missing THE SHORTLIST species was agreed. The shortlisted species were all nationally In discussions with the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, we decided that the report should focus on a shortlist of key species. Each species in our list of locally, extinct or extinct in regions of Northern England and regionally and nationally extinct species was assessed by: were all considered to present no or only a negligible risk to human health. The final selection of species • the geographical range of extinction - a species that was only extinct from this shortlist was then completed on the basis of at a very local level was given a lower score than those extinct at a their potential to deliver social, environmental and wider scale; and economic benefits to communities in the North of England. • the potential risk to human health or life - the successful A wide range of benefits were considered including reintroduction of species such as wolves would be unlikely to be ecosystem services, recreation value and tourism feasible, at least in the short term, due to the perception that there potential. Each species was assigned a score on a could be a risk to humans using Northern England for recreation. Such three-point scale, and the lowest scoring species were species were therefore given a lower score. excluded. This resulted in a final list of 10 species. Lifescape Report 2020 SPECIES PROFILES AN OVERVIEW FOR The following sections describe the species REINTRODUCTION DISCUSSIONS that we selected through our shortlisting In the following profiles, we set out a brief process: description of the species and its natural history, its UK conservation status, indicative 1. Beaver assessments of what each species could 2. Chough contribute ecologically, socially and 3. Common crane economically, and a summary of what the 4. Elk benefits and costs for local communities might 5. Golden eagle be. The sections summarising the social 6. Lynx impacts of each species do not look at the considerable inherent value of being able to 7. Pine marten share a landscape with these species. 8. Wildcat 9. White-tailed eagle 10. Silver-studded blue Lifescape Report 2020 Lifescape Report 2020 ▪ UK conservation status: Now a native species in Scotland ▪ International conservation status: Least concern ▪ Missing from Northern England since: 1500s (the last reference to beavers in England is from 1526) ▪ Scientific name: Castor fiber BEAVER THE EURASIAN BEAVER IS THE The charismatic beaver was hunted However, the wetlands that LARGEST NATIVE RODENT IN to extinction in the UK for its fur and beavers create can sometimes EURASIA. castoreum (beaver secretions which flood farmland and riverside are used in medicines). Beavers are woodland can also be restructured now gradually being brought back to through the actions of the beaver. the UK through reintroductions in both England and Scotland. Beavers can bring many benefits to the local environment, including improving water quality and reducing flood risk downstream by creating large wetlands that are rich in biodiversity. Lifescape Report 2020 BENEFITS AND COSTS BENEFITS COSTS ECOLOGICAL Beavers modify their ecosystems, In modifying landscapes and creating wetlands, delivering substantial increases in the there is inevitably restructuring of former habitat diversity of flora and fauna. Improvements types - typically riparian woodland. The to water quality may improve the ecological abundance of this habitat (affected mostly by status of water courses further wider land use factors) might need to be downstream. assessed locally before advocating reintroduction. SOCIAL Beavers offer great potential for community Whilst beavers are thought to reduce flood risk in involvement and education because of their general, there is evidence that they can also significant capacity to alter landscapes and cause damage to low-lying transport infrastructure their distinctive appearance and behaviour. and can result in the loss of farmland. It might be Volunteering and school visits have been necessary to compensate affected farmers, put in highly beneficial in existing reintroduction place a local exit strategy (in case it is needed) or sites. provide other safeguards on impacts. ECONOMIC There is a high potential for economic Other reintroductions have identified significant benefits through reintroducing beavers. costs in terms of practical reintroduction efforts, These will most likely be linked to tourism and costs through damage to infrastructure, and the potential for reducing flood damage flooding of low-lying farmland and reduced because beaver dams act as natural flood forestry yields. Costs would be highly dependent risk mitigation measures. There is also on the accessibility and ownership of the selected evidence of beaver-altered habitats reintroduction site, but are expected to be lower improving water quality, which would (due to land use and the terrain) in Cumbria than provide secondary benefits for water in other reintroduction areas. companies and potentially for recreational fisheries. Lifescape Report 2020 Lifescape Report 2020 Lifescape Report 2020 • UK conservation status: Locally extinct • International conservation status: Least concern • Missing from Northern England since: Around 1900, although it survived in Cornwall until 1952 and subsequently recolonised in 2001. Populations in the Isle of Man and South Wales remained strong during this time and have recently