Beavers, which were hunted to extinction in Britain in the 16th century, are making a comeback and in the process are helping to restore valuable wetland ecosystems. Known as nature’s engineers they restore wetland habitats through dam-building and felling trees, slowing, storing and filtering water in their habitat, which attracts other wildlife and reduces flooding downstream.
In the UK, 90% of wetland habitats have been lost over the last 100 hundred years. These waterlogged environments are rich in biodiversity and the loss has led to a drastic decline of wildlife. They are also important in countering the effects of extreme weather conditions, storing and absorbing the water flow during floods and storms.
Guy Henderson heads to Devon to see beavers flourishing in English rivers. Derek Gow, a key figure in rewilding beavers, shows the difference they have made to his land. As the former farm was being transformed, Gow also introduced a number of other lost British species, turning it into a biodiversity hotspot. Recent changes to legislation mean the beaver now has protected status in England as it does in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe.
the animal proletariat
Elephants carve highways through their environment, litter them with water holes and fertiliser, transport edible plant seeds across those vast distances, and thin the forest canopy to promote new growth.
That’s awesome, not super familiar with them since they’re half a world away but I’ve encountered beavers imapact first hand while dragging boats over beaver dams.
Every time I go hiking in the Rockies it makes me a little more of a Beaver Marxist. The waterways are so diminished due to urban/agricultural usage below the mountains, and the landscape around them suffers in a multitude of ways from soil erosion to biodiversity loss to spawning chronic wasting disease because there isn’t enough healthy habitat up there after the fires our beaver eradication intensify. In the few areas where beaver ponds remain, the land is so healthy and lush.
Yea same on the east coast its wild how beneficial wetlands are to biodiversity and it’s even wilder that nothing humans have come up with is anywhere near as effective at creating wetlands as just letting beavers do their thing.