A PARTNERSHIP of conservation organisations has announced plans to reintroduce pine martens to Devon’s national parks over the coming years. The furry critters are closely related to stoats and otters. While the species used to be common, pine martens disappeared from our county around 150 years ago, with the only remaining populations living in Scotland and the North.

Now, a partnership of conservation organisations including Dartmoor National Park Authority, Devon Wildlife Trust, Exmoor National Park Authority, the National Trust and the Woodland Trust hopes to reintroduce the species.

The project, known as the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, plans to spend the next 18 months conducting research, and liaising with experts and local stakeholders in order to: ‘to determine what the animal’s reintroduction would mean to other wildlife, agriculture, shooting estates and woodland management.’

They hope that they can then begin to reintroduce this critically endangered animal in 2024.

The plans are being seen as an important positive step in response to the wider crisis facing the UK’s natural world.

Ed Parr Ferris, Conservation Manager at Devon Wildlife Trust, said: ‘As communities rightly seek to plant more woodlands to address carbon and climate, it is vital we also bring back the wildlife and wild processes that make those woodlands alive and functioning properly.

‘This can bring challenges and sometimes requires changes to how we live alongside nature, we want to work with all those affected over the next 18 months to understand how to do that sustainably – for pine martens, other wildlife and people.’

Reintroductions have already successfully taken place in Mid Wales and the Forest of Dean. A study by Vincent Wildlife Trust also identified the South West as the most suitable and highest priority region for the pine marten’s reintroduction.

Eleanor Lewis, from the Devon Woodland Trust, is therefore confident in the project’s success: ‘Having supported the project that reintroduced pine martens to the Forest of Dean we are excited to be part of the team exploring the reintroduction of pine martens to Devon.

‘We have seen that it can be successful, and it would be brilliant to have these elusive creatures returning to Devon once more. Having them back in our woods will help redress the balance of the complex woodland food web and support a thriving woodland ecosystem.’