Making Space for Water: Nature-based Solutions with Beavers

Beavers are ecosystem engineers and were once widespread across Europe and North America. They are now being reintroduced to much of their native range. A growing body of evidence has shown the return of the beaver can provide multiple benefits, including for biodiversity, natural flood management and drought resilience (Brazier et al., 2021, Puttock et al., 2021). However, the return of beavers to intensely managed and highly populated anthropogenic landscapes can also bring management challenges. Pragmatic evidence based policies are required to maximise the benefits and minimise the conflicts associated with the return of the beaver.

Results will be presented from the Making Space for Water Programme which aims to support land managers to create a network of nature rich wetlands across South West England, increasing resilience to hydrological extremes. This project led by Devon Wildlife Trust, in partnership with the University of Exeter and local landowners works with wild beavers to deliver natural solutions to address societal challenges. Case studies will be presented discussing how we have combined geospatial analysis, on the ground expertise and stakeholder engagement to prioritise sites where the Nature-based Solution benefits of beavers may be greatest and direct opportunities exist for least risk.

References  

Brazier, R. E., Puttock, A., Graham, H. A., Auster, R. E., Davies, K. H., & Brown, C. M. L. (2021). Beaver: Nature’s ecosystem engineers. In Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water (Vol. 8, Issue 1, p. e1494). John Wiley and Sons Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1494

Puttock, A., Graham, H. A., Ashe, J., Luscombe, D. J., & Brazier, R. E. (2021). Beaver dams attenuate flow: A multi‐site study. Hydrological Processes, 35(2), e14017. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14017