A bid to release beavers in the Highlands was delayed after intensive lobbying by farmers and landowners prompted an intervention by the local MSP and deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, The Ferret can reveal.

Emails released under freedom of information law disclose why the wildlife agency, NatureScot, postponed a long-awaited plan to move beavers into Loch Beinn A' Mheadhoin in Glen Affric.

Forbes, the National Farmers Union in Scotland (NFUS) and local landowners privately piled pressure on the agency to derail a beaver licence application by the government's Forestry and Land Scotland.

The tree-felling, dam-building, semi-aquatic mammals were due to start being released in Glen Affric in spring 2025. But NatureScot announced in April that it would "take the summer" for more consultations because there was "considerable concern about the proposal among the local community and its representatives."

Campaigners have condemned the delay as "ministerial appeasement of the NFUS at the expense of Scotland's nature". They dubbed the revelations "beavergate", saying they raised "urgent questions about behind-the-scenes lobbying and hidden voices".

Forbes, however, defended her role as a local MSP relaying concerns of constituents to "relevant public bodies". Her status as deputy first minister was "immaterial to progressing constituency casework", she said.

NatureScot accepted the delay could cause "frustration", and promised a "short and focused" engagement on "specific impacts". The planned release was "contentious" and there was "ministerial interest", it said.

Forestry agency delays beaver plan opposed by landowners

Beavers were hunted to extinction in Scotland in the 16th century. They were accidentally or illegally released in Tayside before 2006, and are now thought to number over 2,000 along the Tay and the Forth.

In 2019 the Tayside beavers were given legal protection by the Scottish Government. But farmers and landowners, who feared the damage they could cause by flooding, were licensed to shoot 352 of them between 2019 and 2022.

In 2021 Green MSP Lorna Slater, then biodiversity minister, announced a change of policy aimed at allowing beavers to be moved to other parts of Scotland instead of being shot. Authorised releases have since taken place at Loch Lomond and in the Cairngorms.

In March 2022 Slater asked Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) to identify land it owned suitable for reintroducing beavers. Working with the rewilding campaign group, Trees for Life, FLS developed a proposal to release up to four beaver families on land it owns in Glen Affric, above the Beinn A' Mheadhoin dam.

The Ferret reported in October 2023 that FLS had postponed applying for a beaver release licence following opposition from landowners, backed by Forbes. It wasn't until January 2025, after two years of consultations, that FLS finally submitted its full licence application to NatureScot.

Beaver application 'novel and contentious'

What happened next has now been revealed by over 80 pages of emails released by NatureScot in response to a freedom of information request by The Ferret. Local farmers and land managers, whose names have been redacted, wrote a series of angry letters, urging NatureScot to reject the licence application.

They expressed alarm about the damage that beavers might do to riverbanks and salmon spawning areas. They complained that beavers had already been illegally released downstream at Strathglass, and criticised the consultations as biased.

Forbes wrote to NatureScot in January, also saying that constituents were worried that beaver dams could harm salmon spawning beds. She asked for the matter to be investigated.

NatureScot told NFUS it didn't "normally" seek comments on licence applications, but was "happy" to receive them from farmers. On 28 February 2025 NFUS wrote to NatureScot expressing "serious concerns", calling for a "pause" and requesting a meeting.

The letter argued that, if released, beavers would quickl...