Alladale Lodge in Sutherland.Peter Cairns/Scottish Viewpoint
A millionaire landowner is pressing ahead with plans to reintroduce wolves and bears on his Highland estate. Jack McKeown asked Paul Lister about the call of the wild.
The idea is the brainchild of Paul Lister. The 54-year-old Englishman inherited a fortune from his father Noel, who co-founded MFI before selling the DIY chain for more than £50 million in the mid-eighties.
He bought the 23,000-acre Alladale Estate in Sutherland 10 years ago and has spent the last decade planting 800,000 trees and setting up projects to protect native species including the Scottish wildcat and red squirrel.
Over the next six months a team led by Oxford University will carry out a feasibility study into reintroducing wolves and brown bears into a 50,000 acre wilderness reserve, probably comprising Alladale and some of its surrounding lands.
Paul said: “I want to see wolves and bears back in a natural setting in Scotland. They are in most countries in Europe again but they can’t swim across the North Sea so if they’re going to come back we have to put them there.
“As well as the environmental impact, we’ll be looking at the business impact. I’d rather generate income from people wanting to see wolves and bears in a wilderness reserve than from windfarms.”
The last bear was eliminated in Scotland at least 1,000 years ago and wolves lingered on until the 17th or 18th century, when they too were hunted to extermination.
One of the most powerful arguments in favour of reintroducing wolves is that they will restore balance to the ecosystem.
In 1995 Yellowstone National Park in the USA reintroduced wolves. The animals have boosted tourist numbers and a recent study also credited them with the recovery of berry shrubs, which were being devastated by the booming elk population and are a valuable source of food for bears.
“As part of the feasibility study we’ll be taking a field trip to Yellowstone,” Paul continued.
“We’ll look at how wolves control the population of deer and prevent them from overgrazing by keeping them moving around.
“We have such a monoculture in Scotland. It’s all red deer. Humans cull them but shooting only goes on about 10% of the time. These animals are doing it 100% of the year.
“Large carnivores in Europe and in Yellowstone create the environment and control nature.”
The plan to encircle 50,000 acres to keep the animals in looks set to come into conflict with Scotland’s cherished right to roam rules.
Helen Todd is campaigns and policy manager for Ramblers Scotland. She says the walkers’ organisation is not against the reintroduction of wolves but access laws must come first:
“I’ve been walking in Romania and other countries that have wolves. We are not against their reintroduction if it’s done in a scientific way.
“We supported the reintroduction of beaver at Knapdale, for instance.
“But I fail to see how this scheme can avoid falling foul of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
“I understand the plan is to put an electric fence around 50,000 acres. Presumably, that fence will have a track alongside it to allow vehicle access for maintenance.
“We would expect to be able to go into the area but I can’t see how you could do that if it was fenced off.
“We have real concerns about the landscape and the impact.”
However, Paul says he hopes to address ramblers’ fears: “As part of the consultation I’ll be meeting with all the stakeholders next summer, including the John Muir Trust and Ramblers Scotland.
“Right to roam is, quite rightly, about giving the public access. It came about because the public felt that they were being antagonised by landowners.
“I don’t see myself as a landowner — I don’t own mountains, no one does — I see myself as a caretaker or custodian, looking after part of the land as best I can.
“Of course, we can’t have people roaming around a relatively small, fenced area with large carnivores but we’re keen to work with walkers as closely as we can, perhaps by providing guided tours.”
Paul intends that the scheme will provide an alternative economic model for Highland Scotland, and that attempts to derail it will harm the region’s finances as well as its biodiversity.
“At the end of the day, we’re talking about a scheme that will bring thousands of visitors rather than a few hundred.
If people insist they want to walk all over the land, that’s fine but then this vision will never be realised. It will employ around 100 people and hundreds more indirectly.
“I’m not looking to make money out of this — although I hope not to lose any — but I want to generate employment for the Highlands.
“It is also the only way Scotland will have large carnivores in a natural setting. They are never going to be fully reintroduced, that’s a dream. The only chance of that ever happening is if a scheme like this is a huge success.
“I’m not surprised there has been some opposition to the scheme. Human nature doesn’t like change, we like to stick to what’s tried and tested.
“But there is no proven, working model for the Highlands.
“I don’t think hunting, shooting ’n’ fishing is the way forward. I don’t think sheep farming is the way forward and I certainly don’t think wind turbines are.
“I think nature is the way forward.”
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