the river RE-WILDER

PETER BURGESS IS DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT AT DEVON WILDLIFE TRUST. THEIR WORK HAS RESULTED IN BEAVERS SWIMMING WILD IN OUR RIVERS AGAIN

“When you’re dealing with an animal that’s been extinct in the wild in England for more than 400 years, it’s hard to be sure what its impact might be. What I thought beavers could do pales into insignificance to what I now know.

In around 2013, we got reports of beavers swimming in the River Otter – no one knew where they’d come from. The government planned to capture them, but we got permission to study them for five years. Based on the results, in 2020 permission was granted for them to remain. It’s probably one of the most significant decisions for nature in at least a generation.

Beavers could have a groundbreaking impact. Their dams are a leaky latticework of sticks, mud and stones trapping pollutants, like a huge filter. And with ‘freak’ weather events becoming more frequent, their dams hold water back, reducing flood risk. In times of drought, they release it slowly.

Our rivers are unnatural today – they should be more complex and have many more wetlands associated with them. Where beavers build dams, water spills out onto floodplains and creates wetlands, which is amazing for wildlife and carbon sequestration.

This doesn’t come without challenges – people have their livelihoods in these areas, especially farmers. We need funding streams to support those who will incur the costs for others to benefit. But when you see an area where beavers have been active come to life with dragonflies, frogs, newts, birds and bats, it’s a revelation.”

“Re-wilding beavers is probably one of the most significant decisions for nature in at least a generation”