The UK’s Wildlife Trusts want more free-roaming beavers in England and Wales. There are many beavers thriving in fenced enclosures, but the Trusts – the organisation that links all the county wildlife trusts – are telling the government to set them free.
So what? European beavers are a native British species, wiped out in the 16th century for their fur and their perceived medical benefits. They already add to the richness of British life. Their presence also helps to
- prevent floods
- filter water
- increase wildlife diversity
- capture carbon
Ecosystem engineers. Like humans, beavers create environments as well as live in them. They build dams, dig channels, fell trees and create pools. They do this for themselves but their work creates opportunities for many other species including
- otters
- dragonflies
- fish
- water voles and water shrews
- frog, toads and newts
- bird species including willow tits and kestrels
- many invertebrates
How do we know? Beavers are already here. They escaped/were illegally released onto the confusingly-named River Otter in Devon in 2008, and they have thrived. In 2020 the government said they could stay. Two years later a law was passed in England (but not in Wales) making it illegal to harm them.
Beavers have also been released in Knapdale Forest in Scotland, where they have improved ecosystems and attracted tourists. People like beavers. It’s not as if they were wolves, another native British species long locally extinct.
Wetlands. The University of Exeter has conducted many beaver monitoring projects to assess beavers’ impact from the moment of their introduction into fenced areas. In a decade a family of beavers turned a field of ryegrass with a few trees into a rich and teeming staircase of forest pools.
The area now releases water in times of drought and holds it in times of flood. Wetlands are sponges: after storms they keep hold of water and release it slowly, easing the pressure downstream. Their carbon-capture is increasingly important as the climate hots up.
The Wildlife Trusts are asking government to
- publish a reintroduction strategy;
- fund farmers and land managers to cope with wetter land;
- support beaver management groups;
- confirm that beavers can stay in England and Wales; and
- recognise Welsh beavers are a protected native species.
No beavers! The National Farmers Union traditionally opposes all schemes that lead away from monoculture. It calls the law to protect beavers “unacceptable”. Any opposition is countered with the question: “Don’t you eat?”
Mark Avery, former conservation director of the RSPB and a founder member of Wild Justice, answered: “Actually I do eat. But I also pay for farming through my taxes. That makes me an ignored stakeholder in decisions about the future of agriculture because the vested interests of farming never take much notice of those who pay the bills... You don’t score very highly as an industry in delivering value for money for my taxes or quality of life through your actions.”
Gone fishing? Apart from Mr and Mrs Beaver in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, beavers are strictly vegetarian. The habitats they create benefit fish, giving them more space, cleaner water and more invertebrate food. Some fear their dams will stop fish like salmon migrating. But beavers don’t build dams where they don’t need them. In Norway salmon and beavers share rivers and the salmon catch is as good as ever.
Light the green touchpaper. There are beaver populations good to go in many places in England and Wales: drop the fences and they’ll be off engineering ecosystems. There are already wild beavers showing how it’s done. There’s a positive public response. The time is right for Welsh and English beavers to be set free.
