Cultural ecosystem services of beaver-modified landscapes in Britain

Abstract

Beaver (Castor fiber) translocations are accelerating across Britain as part of nature restoration efforts. While research on beaver effects on ecosystem services in Britain has progressed, our understanding of cultural ecosystem services of beaver-modified landscapes remains limited. We used a standardised questionnaire with 166 respondents across six beaver-modified landscapes in Scotland and England to understand cultural ecosystem services and disservices provided to landscape visitors. Our findings demonstrate that beaver-modified landscapes provide significant cultural ecosystem services to visitors. Respondents were drawn to beaver landscapes for recreation, educational opportunities, landscape aesthetics, inspiration and social relations. Positive aesthetic perceptions and positive emotions were significantly higher among women than men, environmental NGO members than non-members and respondents on guided beaver tours than those visiting independently. We recommend that beaver management strategies support access to these cultural values through accessible infrastructure, educational opportunities, benefit-sharing mechanisms and connections to health and wellbeing initiatives, while recognising that realising cultural benefits also requires addressing disbenefits that arise locally and accommodating plural, sometimes competing, values, as essential aspects of socially just nature conservation