Beavers are in our history but not our culture. They are decision-makers with minds of their own and can radically alter whole landscapes. Our farmland and waterways have changed dramatically since beavers lived in more natural river systems. Many rivers are canalised, straightened and deeply incised, and no longer able to spread across valleys, often with farming and development right up to the bank.
Beavers and the wetlands they create can provide benefits to people and wildlife but they can cause issues that may conflict with current land use, livelihoods and traditions. With the right knowledge, planning, support and funding to manage impacts appropriately, community stakeholders can make the most of the return of beavers as part of their local river restoration and catchment management with minimum cost and disruption.
New homes for beavers
We help people to relearn how to live alongside beavers and their wetlands. Currently, the process for bringing back beavers is not straightforward, but Beaver Trust and our collaborators support communities along the way:
- Provide information – through resources and site visits, we show people how to co-exist with beaver wetlands.
- Talk to communities – few know about beavers and caution is natural so we share our experience of making space for nature and planning for the return of beavers.
- Support projects – we can guide you through your river restoration and beaver project, engaging support from practitioners where needed.
- Align interests – beaver projects can span river catchments and boundaries; we help everyone to be heard and reach agreement through local beaver management groups.
- Manage issues – beavers change landscapes, so a growing network provide practical advice to resolve issues like flooding, tree and crop damage or fish passage concerns.
Ask the experts
Thanks to those far-sighted people who have worked for years to restore the beaver, we now know how to repopulate our waterways. Beaver Trust works in collaboration with people and organisations who know far more than we do. This allows us to share knowledge and connect people who provide:
- Feasibility and planning – assess and survey potential project locations to ensure site suitability for beaver releases, and support license applications.
- Site monitoring – create baselines before beavers arrive and study changes in water and wildlife as beavers create new river systems and habitats.
- Beaver support – link to the best and most recent research on beavers, the benefits they bring and the best solutions and local support to any problems that arise.
- Animals – source genetically-diverse and healthy beavers that have been translocated from other places by licensed practitioners.
Educate and inspire
The next generations must learn far better than we have how to live alongside the rest of nature, how to make space for and restore abundant wildlife. Beaver Trust will play its part in this through education programmes, school curriculum materials and training.
- Tell the story – beavers are more than a single creature; they are a bringer of life. We tell the stories of farmers, fishers, nature-lovers, landowners, dog walkers and citizen scientists who live alongside beavers.
- Build knowledge – we need more people to understand our reliance on healthy rivers and landscapes, with restoration professionals, scientists, beaver wardens and river keepers sharing evidence and experience.
- Learn outside – we help the next generation and their families to be immersed in the wild experience of natural landscapes close to their homes, workplace and schools, and with visits to beaver wetland sites.
The joy of beavers
There is a great surge in public awareness of our ecological and climate crises. However, many people feel frustrated with their lack of power to do anything about it.
Beaver Trust shares positive stories, data and best practice to inspire change.
- Campaigns that work – to reintroduce and protect beavers and other native species and promote nature-friendly ways of managing our land and water.
- Grabbing attention – fun, impactful films and graphics to educate and entertain.
- Bringing people together – collaborative networks of people spanning local and national communities, multiplying our combined actions and impacts.
- Constant learning – events and courses to inform the public, policymakers and land managers of beaver benefits and how to co-exist with them.
We shift the dialogue away from fear to recovery and abundance. This is about the sheer joy of helping to restore nature.
Changing the rules
Beaver Trust is drafting a national vision and strategy for restoring rivers and wildlife with beavers across Britain. Working with land and water managers, NGO’s, government agencies, industry, conservation groups and beaver practitioners, we are helping to change policies and regulatory frameworks, secure management support and funding, incentivise people to make space for nature and ensure a source of beavers and expertise:
- Planning and budgeting – we are developing and will help to deliver a strategy and budget for increasing beaver populations across whole river catchments in Britain.
- Convening key influencers – we are hosting and facilitating national coalitions and working groups for aligning decision-makers.
- Informing policy – our evidence-based briefings, consultations and events help policy makers develop appropriate rules for beaver restoration and management.
- Proposing reward systems – we devise land use and payment methods like river buffers where space is given to nature and farmers are rewarded for the ecosystem services.
