Peter Smith

Beavers! a plan for Wales’s Ecological Renaissance, with the help of David Lloyd George…..? It was my Honour to Give the Annual Lacey Lecture for the North Wales Wildlife Trust this year - You can watch it here: In Honour of W.S. (Bill) Lacey,  Lecturer in the Botany , University College of North Wales & Founder of the North Wales Wildlife Trust A history of Beaver in Britain, a lecture by Peter Smith, Director of the Wildwood Trust. Peter will talk about the history of beaver extinction, the many efforts of people over the last 100 years who tried to reintroduce beavers and the problems they faced. The many benefits to our water quality, flood risks & and wildlife that beaver could bring. Dispelling some of the myths about the augments against beaver reintroduction. The study of ecology has resulted in a growing interest in Rewilding some of our land and the role of animals such as beavers, wild herbivores and the huge ecological benefits of the population dyn...

My next Public Talk will be the on the Return of the Beaver to Wales, for the North Wales Wildlife Trust's Annual Lacy Lecture: TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW! To show your support for beaver reintroduction, why not come along to ‘Return of the Beaver’ on Friday 17 November, 7pm at Venue Cymru, Llandudno. (This is NWWT’s annual Lacey Lecture.) Early bird tickets are £10 from your local branch or the NWWT Bangor office or direct from Venue Cymru booking office (01492 872000) at £12.  Talk Synopsis: Beavers! a plan for Wales’s Ecological Renaissance, with the help of David Lloyd George…..? A history of Beaver in Britain, a lecture by Peter Smith, Director of the Wildwood Trust. Peter will talk about the history of beaver extinction, the many efforts of people over the last 100 years who tried to reintroduce beavers and the problems they faced. The many benefits to our water quality, flood risks & and wildlife that beaver could bring. Dispelling some of the myths about the au...

Or why the 'Food Security Lobby' are a bunch of self  serving  benefit scrounging scaremongers! Two good articles in the press this week have got me to discuss concept of the 'Futile Trade-offs' as in food or wildlife. But we must look deeper into the 'perverse incentives' inherent in our economy that make us destroy wildlife to put wasted food down the waste disposal unit or to feed intensively farmed pigs and cattle soya from destroyed rainforest! As ever the real sin is the perverse incentive to waste land we need for wildlife and keeping our environment healthy, the very life-support system all humanity relies on. An article in 'The Conversation' posed the question: What would happen if we abandoned Britain’s farms and left them to nature?  And the BBC came out with this: World's large carnivores being pushed off the map Both articles produced a lot of flak from the 'Food Security Lobby':  My answer is this: Calorie...

Or how rewilding with wolves could save the Scottish Taxpayer Millions and prevent many avoidable fatalities? Wildwood Trust’s recent press activity including a piece on Radio 4’s Today Programme and articles in the Telegraph and Express on our Devon Wolf project have causes a stir on social media.  I have been lambasted in comments as a fool etc. But what kind of fool am I for wanting to see the return of wolves and bears to the UK. My critics have said wolves would be dangerous and costly if returned to Scotland. But would they? Many conservationists favouring classical conservation have said we should have rewilding ‘lite’ such as letting roadside verges go wild but not the wolves. As a small thought experiment (trust me I have not been drinking!): let’s compare the negative externalities of two forms of rewilding: Leaving roadside verges uncut (rewilding 'Lite')  Reintroducing 5 packs of wolves to Scotland  Rewild the Verge Grass verges (I did a...

My blog post about BREXIT was picked up and rewritten for a global audience in the Georgist Journal - a great honour for my good self. http://www.georgistjournal.org/2016/12/12/brexit-why-land-value-tax-can-stop-fascists-save-the-planet/ The Georgist Journal has a wealth of articles which I recommend anyone to read it If you are after a much deeper investigation into the issues surrounding Brexit and an explanation of how Land Rent Capture is the solution then read the excellent book by Fred Harrison: Beyond Brexit: The Blueprint: You can get it on amazon here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Brexit-Blueprint-Fred-Harrison/dp/0995635102 and do visit Fred's excellent website www.sharetherents.org   where he published an excellent article ' Brexit and the Last Great Injustice '