CLM20-2 full issue-1 - Flipbook - Page 37
VIEWPOINT: Dams without beavers: could beaver dam analogues yield benefits in the UK?
BDAs
Where beavers are absent in the UK, a series of BDAs could be used to effectively slow the flow of water
while also creating areas of wetland habitat. Utah State University Restoration Consortium (CC BY 4.0)
leaves beavers without important sources of
food and construction materials. This limits the
potential for reintroduction, which is unfortunate
because the presence of beavers in such areas
could provide numerous benefits, such as slowing
peak flows and reducing flood risk downstream
after periods of high rainfall. In the absence of
beavers, however, a series of BDAs could be used
to slow flood peaks as effectively as – or better
than – current techniques, such as leaky dams,
while also creating areas of wetland habitat.
Bearing in mind the slow process of consultation
involved in beaver reintroductions, BDAs can
provide an effective and more immediate tool to
mimic the benefits usually provided by natural
beaver dams, as demonstrated by their successful
use in the USA. While we wait for beavers to
reclaim their rightful place in the landscape, I
believe it is time to kickstart the restoration of our
watercourses by rapidly increasing the use of BDAs.
References
Bouwes, N., Weber, N., Jordan, C. E., Saunders, W. C.,
Tattam, I. A., Volk, C., Wheaton, J. M., & Pollock, M. M.
2016. Ecosystem experiment reveals benefits of natural
and simulated beaver dams to a threatened population
of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Scientific Reports
6: 28581.
Bowles, F., Clarke, S., Eardley, B., Jeffries, R., & Stone, P.
2021. The Stage Zero approach – lessons from North
America on restoring river, wetland and floodplain
habitats. Conservation Land Management 19(4): 21–28.
Coles, B. J. 2006. Beavers in Britain’s Past. Oxbow Books,
Oxford.
Pollock, M., Beechie T. J., Wheaton, J. M., Jordan, C. E.,
Bouwes, N., Weber, N., & Volk, C. 2014. Using beaver
dams to restore incised river ecosystems. BioScience
64(4): 279–290.
Pollock, M. M., & Lewallen, M. L. 2015. Beaver Dam
Analogues. In: Pollock, M. M., G. Lewallen, K.
Woodruff, C. E. Jordan, & J. M. Castro (eds), The Beaver
Restoration Guidebook: Working with Beaver to Restore
Streams, Wetlands, and Floodplains. United States Fish
and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon.
Rural Payments Agency. 2022. Countryside Stewardship:
Higher Tier manual for agreements starting on 1 January
2023. www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-stewardshiphigher-tier-manual-for-agreements-starting-on-1january-2023
Wells, C. E., Hodgkinson, D., & Huckerby, E. 2000
Evidence for the possible role of beaver (Castor fiber)
in the prehistoric ontogenesis of a mire in northwest
England, UK. The Holocene 10(4): 503–508.
Worrall, S. 2018. Beavers – once nearly extinct – could
help fight climate change. National Geographic. https://
on.natgeo.com/3LqRDJm
Worsley, P. 2009. The physical geology of beavers. Mercian
Geologist 17(2): 112–121.
Richard Fleming is a retired forestry worker
and commercial fisherman with an interest in
countryside management. Richard writes about
various environmental issues on Substack
(https://bit.ly/3NU7m4l).
Conservation Land Management Summer 2022 | Vol. 20 No. 2 35
