A beaver project in England offers lessons in coexistence
There’s a site in Cornwall, in southern England, called Woodland Valley Farm. Here, farmer Chris Jones allows beavers to roam in an enclosed five-acre plot. Their natural dams, he says, have helped control repeated flooding of the downstream village.
Centuries after beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain, efforts are now underway by environmentalists to reintroduce the creature. As the rodents’ return becomes increasingly widespread – not only in this corner of England, but in many parts of Britain, Europe, and North America – the debate is shifting from whether to bring them back to a question of how to manage them once they start popping up in waterways.
