Beavers brought in to beat flooding in Britain

Beavers are to be reintroduced in two parts of Britain as part of plans to help control flooding, the National Trust announced on Wednesday. The charity, which manages historic properties and countryside, said it aimed to release Eurasian beavers at two sites in southern England early next year.

“The dams the beavers create will hold water in dry periods, help to lessen flash-flooding downstream and reduce erosion and improve water quality by holding silt,” said Ben Eardley, project manager at one of the sites. Beavers were hunted out of existence in Britain in the 16th century because of demand for their fur, meat and scent glands. There have since been several controlled reintroductions of the mammals, including in western Scotland.

Beavers have been described as “nature’s engineers”, whose work can help create wetland habitats to support a range of species from insects to wildfowl. Beavers in river catchment areas would “help make our landscape more resilient to climate change and the extremes of weather it will bring”, Eardley said.

He will oversee the reintroduction of one pair of beavers at Holnicote, near Exmoor National Park in southwest England. Another pair will be released on the Black Down Estate, on the edge of the South Downs on the English south coast. They will all be introduced in fenced-off woodland areas. Experts will then monitor changes to the habitat that result.