]> 2026-04-29T15:28:42+00:00 Case study:Devon Beaver Project and River Otter Beaver Trail 500 en Approved leaky woody dams Devon Wildlife Trust University of Exeter Derek Gow Consultancy Clinton Devon Estates Royal Zoological Society of Scotland Natural England Derek Gow Consultancy Viridor Credits Environmental Company Truell Charitable Foundation Devon Wildlife Trust Royal Society for Wildlife Trusts Peter de Haan Charitable Trust Garfield Weston Foundation University of Exeter Public Yes No Yes false No 50.7204283,-3.7870539 Peter Devon Wildlife Trust Burgess ,,leaky woody dams, ,,, 23694 University of Exeter, Derek Gow Consultancy, Clinton Devon Estates, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland 15 Devon Beavers.png 2011 2455562.5 In progress The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) is a native species to Britain. After an absence of around 400 years, it is has returned to being wild in the British landscape at 2 core locations in Scotland and as a free living population on the River Otter in Devon (Map 1). Devon Wildlife Trust has also been running a beaver project in a securely fenced, private site in western Devon since 2011. The site provides an ideal location to carry out detailed scientific studies into the impacts of beavers on hydrology and water quality. This work complements the catchment-scale data being secured through the monitoring strategy applied to the free-living beavers that form part of the River Otter Beaver Trial in east Devon. This covers the entire 250km² of the Otter catchment containing 594km of watercourse. More information on both the Devon Beaver Project and the River Otter Beaver Trial can be found on the Devon Wildlife Trust's website (http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/our-projects). Since their introduction into the enclosed site, the beavers have: • constructed 13 dams holding up to one million litres of additional water within ponds on the site • influenced an area of 1.8ha equating to 56 litres of surface water storage per m² of land (during storm events, peak flows have been 30% lower on average leaving the site than entering) • delayed the lag time between peak flow into the site and peak flow leaving the site (on average, one hour over a distance of 183m) • reduced peak flow even in saturated conditions and for the largest monitored flood events (due to the hydraulic roughness of the dams and felled trees, and the leaky nature of the dams) • resulted in significant and constant base flow from the site (even in periods of drought) through water storage and gentle release effect <br> Funding - In 2016, Devon Wildlife Trust launched a crowdfunding campaign to encourage the public to donate to the project in return for a series of unusual things such as beaver chips, guided walks or the appearance of the Nora the beaver mascot at an event. Devon Beaver Project and River Otter Beaver Trail devon beaver project and river otter beaver trail http://www.therrc.co.uk/sites/default/files/projects/15_devonbeavers.pdf No Otter and Tamar otter and tamar Economic aspects Flood risk management Habitat and biodiversity Hydromorphology Land use management - agriculture Land use management - forestry Monitoring Social benefits Water quality 2018-11-05T09:07:56Z 2458427.8805093 2018-11-05T09:22:23Z 2458427.890544 Devon Beaver Project and River Otter Beaver Trail