By Matthew Appleby
On Friday 28 February the UK Government announced licenced reintroductions of beavers into the wild in England – 400 years after they were hunted to extinction.
The Wildlife Trusts said they were delighted with this news and look forward to communities experiencing the benefits that beavers will bring, including flood reduction, cleaner waters, and the magic of living alongside these extraordinary animals.
However, the National Farmers Union president Tom Bradshaw said, speaking at the NFU annual conference in London: “You’ve got to have the final control method in place. If beavers end up in the wrong place then lethal control has to be part of being able to have that species reintroduced more widely, particularly if they undermine our flood defences, if the undermine some of our lowland water carriers that are so important protecting our valuable land, then you need to have those mitigations in place.”
Natural England has developed a detailed licensing regime and application process to make sure that stakeholders are engaged and landowners are supported.
Only 14% of rivers in the UK are in good ecological condition. The Government recently committed to spending billions of pounds on hard infrastructure to combat flooding as well as compensating farmers for lost crops due to changing weather patterns.
Defra ran a public beaver consultation three years ago showing overwhelming support for reintroducing this species. Changes to English law made them a native species in October 2022.
The Government’s State of the water environment indicator B3: supporting evidence says 16% of surface waters achieve Good Ecological Status. Within this, figures are 14% for rivers, 14% for Lakes, 19% for Estuaries and 45% for coastal waters.