The project (which is a partnership between the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, Wigan Council, the Beaver Trust, and a number of other organisations) is at the early stages of exploring the potential return of beavers to the Wigan Greenheart landscape and its wider catchments.
Beavers are known as ecosystem engineers. Their activity – building dams, lodges and creating channels can contribute to the restoration and revival of healthy wetland habitats. These habitats can then slow water flows to help reduce flood risk, increase resilience to drought, improve water quality, enrich and diversifying habitats for a wide range of wildlife including rare and declining species such as water vole and bittern, and create new opportunities for people to connect with nature. Reflecting these benefits, the Environment Agency now recognises beavers as one of 17 natural flood management measures in its Working with Natural Processes evidence directory.
Beavers would once have been common in our landscape but became extinct in the 16th century due to hunting. Since then, we have also lost an estimated 90% of the UK’s wetland habitats over the last century. Reversing the decline of these habitats is now a national priority. In England, the Government has set a legally binding target to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042, alongside targets to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and support its recovery thereafter.
Restoring beavers to suitable landscapes could help contribute towards these ambitions. By creating and maintaining dynamic wetlands and restoring natural processes, beavers can help create more space for nature while providing wider benefits for water management, climate resilience and people.
The assessments are looking into how beavers could fit into Wigan’s landscape. Along with this, a consultation will be held to gather the thoughts of interested parties.
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