Beaver Management Strategy

After an absence of approximately 400 years, beavers are now back in Somerset. As with all wildlife, beavers can offer multiple environmental, social and economic benefits but they may also present challenges in some locations.  Somerset Wildlife Trust was commissioned by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group South-West (FWAG-SW) with funding from the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) to produce a Beaver Management Strategy for the county that will help all those who are being, or will be, impacted by beavers understand how they can live alongside this native and legally protected species, access local or national support, and, ultimately, benefit from the many positives that co-existence can bring.

After significant background research of national and Somerset-specific environmental, social and economic opportunities and impacts beavers can effect and how those have been capitalised on or managed elsewhere, a draft Strategy was created. We are incredibly grateful to all the organisations who contributed technical information about their own particular areas of expertise and all the members of the public who engaged with and provided feedback through the 10 week consultation period. 

We are now working our way through that feedback and hope to be able to issue an updated, finalised guide over the course of winter 24/25.