A new funding partnership will lead to the growth of the British beaver population and engage more people with the role they play in Britain’s ecosystems.
The British beaver population continues to grow, but as this iconic native species returns some landowners may need support to ensure they can live in renewed coexistence. This week, Beaver Trust are delighted to announce a new partnership with the Ecological Restoration Fund (ERF) which will help support the restoration of and coexistence with beavers across Britain.
Beavers have returned to different parts of Britain since the early 2000s, breathing new life into ecosystems, creating diverse habitats and connecting people with nature. However, reintroducing a native species that has been absent from our shores for several centuries and has been restored through a mixture of unlicenced releases or escapes and official reintroductions doesn’t come without its challenges and learning opportunities.
This grant will hopefully help the growth of the beaver population in Britain by supporting two key areas of our work: releasing beavers at new sites and providing our team with the equipment and resources they need to carry out mitigation and trapping.
The way we use our land has changed a lot in the past 400 years, so beavers are returning to a familiar yet drastically changed landscape. While beaver presence doesn’t automatically mean conflict, as their impacts are dependent on surrounding land use and availability of riparian habitat, their activities can bring challenges in certain circumstances. Mitigating these impacts is key to helping people to live alongside beavers and ultimately enable the restoration of the species.
Translocating beavers and mitigating their impacts across Britain demands a great amount of resources, from veterinary fees for health checks and trapping equipment to beaver holding facilities and vehicle maintenance to cover the miles.
The £150,000 funding from the ERF has been awarded at a pivotal time for beavers in Britain. It means that over the next three years, our Restoration Team will have the resources and equipment they need to work with landowners to install flow devices, notch or remove dams if required, protect trees from foraging activities and implement other well-established mitigation methods. If these measures prove to be unsuccessful, the team can then trap beavers that are party to repeat conflict and move them to a new site.
Beaver Trust is expecting to see a growth in the number of beaver releases in the coming year, due to:
- The active promotion of translocations in the NatureScot 2045 Beaver Strategy
- Their new protected status in England
- The increase in enquiries from landowners who would like to release beavers on their land
- Beaver families in enclosures growing as the adults have kits.
This investment will enable the team to respond to this growth, conduct feasibility studies, support with licence applications and community engagement, as well as sourcing the beavers and giving them a full health check before releasing them after their time in a holding facility.
Over the past 3 years, Beaver Trust have translocated over 60 beavers to enclosed and wild-release projects across Britain. This partnership will help continue this vital work to restore beavers to regenerate our landscapes.
