Beavers are being enlisted by the Forestry Commission to help prevent rivers from flooding. Up to eight microchipped beavers will be introduced to Cropton Forest on the North York Moors in the hope that they will build dams to slow down any surges of water from big rainfalls, helping prevent flooding downstream in places such as Pickering. In another project, beavers were introduced this summer to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire to prevent flooding in the village of Lydbrook, which was badly flooded in November 2012.

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The rodents build their dams on shallow streams and rivers using small tree trunks, branches, mud and stones. A study recently published by Exeter University found that beavers released at a location in West Devon in 2011 slowed the flow of water, as well as cleaning up polluted water and soil washed off fields further upstream.



But there are a lot of myths about beavers. They don’t compete with anglers by eating fish because they are strictly vegetarian, and they don’t devastate their habitats but actually improve wildlife and plant diversity. And beavers are not an alien species to this country – they were native here for thousands of years before being hunted to extinction about 400 years ago for their fur and scent glands.