The wide scale restoration of Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), is currently underway in Scotland. A number of conservation translocations have been carried out, and more are planned. These have be carried out in line with the Scottish Code for Conservation Translocations, and the relevant biological and socio-economic considerations addressed. The species is a significant ecosystem engineer that can change aquatic, semi-aquatic and riparian habitats, alter physical processes and benefit biodiversity and cultural ecosystem services. Their engineering activities can sometimes also have adverse impacts on land management and infrastructure.

We developed a web-based app to help the complex planning and design of these projects. The app is based on a beaver landscape population model that simulates beaver ecology and behaviours to predict spatial spread through time. The app allows the user to create scenarios by inputting the numbers of beavers to release, their family structures and their locations to simulate the size and spread of the predicted beaver population over three, five and ten years periods. Model predictions are summarised and mapped.

The expectation is that the app will developed further in collaboration with nature conservation agencies to aid in assessing conservation translocation plans and licence applications, and practitioners designing appropriate release strategies. The visual outputs may also be used during engagement with local communities, to help explain the nature of any proposed translocations, and their possible implications.