To date, the only officially sanctioned beavers living wild in the UK are in Scotland and along the River Otter in Devon, where Devon Wildlife Trust has worked with the local community to monitor the animals over several years.

The Wildlife Trusts believe beavers should be allowed to return to the wild across the UK and expand their range naturally. For the beaver strategy to achieve its full potential for nature and climate, they are calling on the Government to:

• Formally recognise beavers as a native species in England
• Support ambitious and carefully targeted reintroduction projects
• Reward landowners who make space for wetlands created by beavers
• Adopt management systems that protect beavers and resolve problems effectively
• Support local beaver management groups to deliver advice and assistance. 

Dr Rob Stoneman, Director of Landscape Recovery at The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“Beavers are brilliant animals and, following several trials, we’ve already seen how reintroduction can have such a positive impact for nature, climate, and people too. Beavers can help to improve water quality, benefit other species, reduce flood risk and, by creating new wetlands, contribute to carbon storage as well.

“Ultimately, we want to see free-living beavers across the UK to help restore nature and tackle the climate emergency. The Wildlife Trusts have the experience and expertise of managing these animals effectively and working with landowners and communities to ensure any issues are resolved quickly and efficiently. If we’re serious about putting nature into recovery, we need to see beavers introduced into the wild.”

5 years of research by Devon Wildlife Trust shows that:

• Beavers create a fantastic range of wetland habitats that provide homes for other wildlife and greatly enhance conditions for nature to thrive and store carbon
• The channels, dams and wetlands that beavers engineer hold back water and release it more slowly after heavy rain, helping to reduce the risk of flooding
• Their activities prevent soil being washed away after rainfall – their dams filter water, cleaning it and reducing pollution downstream. 

The importance of beavers in Essex is highlighted by Natalie Singleton, River Catchment Officer at Essex Wildlife Trust: 

"Beavers are the ultimate ecosystem engineers, creating biodiverse wetland habitats that improve water quality, act as carbon sinks and regulate the flow of water in periods of drought and flood. At Spains Hall, we've seen what beavers can achieve even in a short space of time. In less than three years they have transformed their enclosure from a small stream to a complex network of pools, dams and canals, creating a new wet woodland habitat. This habitat not only benefits species such as water shrews and water voles but is helping to hold water back from villages downstream in periods of heavy rainfall, while releasing water slowly during dry spells.

Beavers are part of our native wildlife and have been missing from our landscapes for more than 400 years. In that time, we have done untold damage to our rivers and wetlands. The re-introduction of beavers would provide a natural solution to redress the balance, and provide a host of ecosystem services such as Natural Flood Management and mitigating Climate Change."

Once the consultation closes on 17^th November, the Government will publish a strategy in response, setting out the framework for future beaver reintroductions and support for landowners who make space for beavers on their land. The Wildlife Trusts are asking people to respond to the consultation here.