Policy paper

Wild release and management of beavers in England

Published 28 February 2025

Applies to England

This policy paper sets out Defra’s approach to the wild release and management of beavers in England. This approach will involve 3 main objectives:

1. Licensing the wild release of beavers
2. Managing existing wild beaver populations
3. Developing a long-term management plan for beavers

Eurasian beavers were once widespread across England but became nationally extinct due to overhunting. In recent years, they have begun returning to our waterways through a combination of licensed releases, escapes, unlawful wild releases, and natural breeding.

Summary

Beavers can bring many benefits including boosting biodiversity, creating and restoring wetland habitats, and reducing downstream flooding. Their positive effect on water ecosystems can bring benefits for a variety of other organisms, supporting delivery of the government’s statutory species abundance and extinction targets. River restoration and creation of wetlands by beavers can also potentially contribute towards delivery of the government’s statutory target to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected sites by 2042.

Beaver reintroductions must be carefully planned to avoid negative effects on farming, food production, and infrastructure. Beavers can potentially cause damage to infrastructure and property. They pose challenges to those responsible for land and infrastructure in some locations, especially if their activity is not effectively managed. That’s why we intend to only allow beaver releases that are:

• well-managed
• at a measured pace
• in locations with the best potential for environmental, social and economic benefits
• developed with proper engagement from local landowners and managers
• able to minimise the risk of negative effects

All new wild release projects will need to have a project plan covering at least a 10-year period to support introduction of beavers into a landscape. All projects must have an exit strategy that covers both successful delivery of the project, and early termination due to failure or other factors. Natural England must be consulted before a project starts their exit strategy. The purpose of the exit strategy is to transition to longer-term management of beavers in the landscape. This is to ensure support to farmers, landowners and local communities continues after the initial project.

Support for farmers, landowners and local communities will be provided through:

• a rigorous risk assessment in the application process
• the existing management framework laid out in our 5-step beaver management approach

This will be backed up by support through local beaver management groups and Environmental Land Management options.

Natural England’s enquiry line (telephone: 0300 060 3900) is available to direct farmers, landowners and local communities to the most appropriate advice.

As we learn from experience we’ll review and adapt the management approach and support available for expanding beaver populations. We want beaver reintroductions into the wild to be sustainable, and to work for nature and people. This robust approach will balance the needs of nature restoration, infrastructure, farming and food production.

We’ll develop and publish a long-term management plan for beaver reintroduction and recovery. To do this, we’ll work closely with environmental organisations, farmers, fisheries, infrastructure managers, businesses, beaver experts, and water and land managers.

Licensing the wild release of beavers

We’ve asked Natural England to begin accepting and assessing licence applications to release beavers into the wild. Beavers released by these projects will be allowed to expand their range naturally, with management plans in place to promote their positive return to the landscape.

We’re using insights from previous experience to plan our ongoing approach. This includes:

• the River Otter Beaver Trial
• other licensed projects in England which have successfully released beavers into enclosures
• the responses to the 2021 consultation on beaver reintroduction and management in England

Conservation translocations, including reintroductions, are an important tool for nature recovery. To maximise their benefits and minimise risks, all reintroductions should follow the reintroductions and other conservation translocations code for England.

How the licensing scheme will work

A licence is needed to release any beavers into the wild. This includes releasing beavers to genetically reinforce existing wild populations, or the release of beavers from enclosures.

For beaver wild release, project proposals will be considered against comprehensive wild release criteria. The criteria are based on the English code and have been developed through extensive engagement with stakeholders.   

Applicants will first need to submit an ‘expression of interest’ to Natural England. Natural England will then assess the quality of project proposals and only those likely to meet the criteria will be invited to make a full application.

The first expression of interest window will open from 3 March 2025 and will close on 2 May 2025. Applicants can access guidance on the expression of interest and application process. There will be more opportunities to submit expressions of interest on a regular basis. Timings will be planned and communicated to allow plenty of preparation time.

To be successful, full licence applications will need to:

• demonstrate clear environmental benefits
• provide evidence of meaningful engagement with local landowners and managers
• explain how the risks of identified negative outcomes will be effectively avoided, mitigated or managed

The wild release criteria have been designed to ensure only high-benefit, low-risk projects are granted licences, and that beavers are reintroduced at a measured pace, in a well-managed way.

Projects must help communities adapt to living with beavers. All new reintroduction projects that receive a licence must develop a project plan. This will usually need to cover at least a 10-year period to support introduction of beavers into a landscape. The project plan must include an exit strategy for transition to longer-term beaver management to ensure support to farmers, landowners and local communities continues after this initial period. Natural England must be consulted before a reintroduction project starts its exit strategy.

We’ll keep this approach under review. We’ll use what we learn to inform the long-term approach to beaver management in England, and where necessary to update our guidance.

First wild release licence granted

On 10 February 2025 the National Trust received a licence to release beavers into the wild as part of their Purbeck Beaver Project in Dorset. Read more about this project on the Natural England blog site.

Support for living alongside beavers

We recognise that some groups and individuals are concerned about the effects of beaver activity. This includes some farmers, fisheries, land managers, and infrastructure managers. Evidence from the River Otter Beaver Trial, and from other countries, shows that beavers have the potential to cause problems in some situations. However, with the right support and management in place, the overall benefits provided by wild beaver populations more than outweigh the risks.

We want to make sure that support is available to help beavers and people live alongside each other. Our 5-step beaver management approach ensures effective management of beavers and supports people to live alongside them.

In most circumstances damage from beavers can be avoided by effective management. This includes:

• engaging with local support, such as the support provided by the release project
• making space for beavers
• taking proactive lawful mitigation actions that do not require a licence (for example, removing dams less than 2 weeks old in areas likely to be problematic)

Beaver management groups (BMGs)

You can contact your local BMG for advice, including early intervention to mitigate beaver damage, such as removing a dam which is less than 2 weeks old.

Accessing Environmental Land Management (ELM) funding 

ELM funding for water actions will provide a range of flood reduction and biodiversity benefits.

The funding will:

• help create space around watercourses for beavers
• protect assets including trees and crops
• create or restore habitats and natural processes that beaver activity could contribute to

ELM support and advice for land managers will be available through Countryside Stewardship (Higher Tier) and capital grants. In addition, some actions in the Sustainable Farming Incentive also have a role to play in riparian management.

Licensed management

If lower-level interventions without a licence are ineffective or not appropriate, licensed management of beavers may be considered. These are a higher level of intervention actions, which can include removing or reducing the height of a dam. As a last resort, beavers may be trapped and translocated, or lethally controlled.

More information can be found in Natural England’s beaver management guidance.

Managing existing wild beaver populations

Beavers are already present and breeding in the wild in several catchments in England. One population, on the River Otter in Devon, has already been allowed to remain and expand naturally following the licensed River Otter Beaver Trial.

We want to support the ongoing effective management of all existing populations, not just the River Otter. The public consultation noted that there are records of wild-living beavers confirmed to be breeding on sections of the following river catchments (in addition to the River Otter):

• River Tamar in Devon and Cornwall
• River Stour in East Kent
• River Avon and River Brue in Somerset and Wiltshire
• Little Dart in North Devon
• River Wye in Herefordshire

We recognise that further unlawful releases and escapes have occurred since the public consultation. Growing populations have also spread into new catchments.

Defra will allow all existing beaver populations to remain and expand naturally, and will ensure that appropriate management measures are put in place. Existing wild populations will be proactively managed through their local beaver management group (BMG). Natural England will support BMGs to develop their capabilities. This will include helping them to:

• develop and implement beaver management and stakeholder engagement plans
• conduct risk and benefit analyses to an equivalent standard as new wild release applications

However, unlawful releases can reduce public and stakeholder confidence in licensed projects, and other nature recovery initiatives.

Further unlawful releases could:

• reduce the likelihood of success of beaver reintroductions
• lead to conflict
• increase the need for reactive beaver management

We will not tolerate the continued unlawful release of beavers. It is an offence in England under section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release a beaver into an enclosure or the wild, except under the authority of a licence from Natural England. Doing so without a licence carries a penalty of either an unlimited fine or up to 6 months in prison.

Developing a management plan for beavers

We recognise that our management approach and the support available for people living alongside beavers will need to develop and adapt over the longer-term. This will help to ensure that we continue to meet the challenges posed by an expanding beaver population.

Building on the approach that we’ve already developed for wild release and management, we’ll collaboratively develop a vision for managing the long-term reintroduction and recovery of beaver populations in England. This management plan will include:

• setting out a long-term direction for beaver reintroduction at a measured pace
• how we’ll continue to monitor beaver reintroductions and learn from experience
• how we’ll adapt our management approach to support people living with expanding beaver populations
• exploring whether there is more that can be done, including considering legislative changes, to meet the challenge posed by any future unlawful release of beavers

As part of this work we will commit to the following actions.

We will gather data on damage caused by reintroduced beavers, to help us assess the scale of any issues and what, if any, changes may be needed to our management approach in the future.

We will evaluate the effectiveness of the support for living alongside beavers, especially in instances where damage is recorded.

We will learn from other countries to ensure we put proactive management and support in place ahead of time

These steps will help us identify any changes we may need to make to adapt to an increasing beaver population, before problems arise. In this way, we’ll continue to support farmers, landowners and local communities in the long term.