Case study:Devon Beaver Project and River Otter Beaver Trail

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Location: 50° 43' 13.54" N, 3° 47' 13.39" W

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site	http://www.therrc.co.uk/sites/default/files/projects/15_devonbeavers.pdf
Themes	Economic aspects, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Land use management - agriculture, Land use management - forestry, Monitoring, Social benefits, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Peter
Main contact surname	Burgess
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	Devon Wildlife Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/
Partner organisations	University of Exeter, Derek Gow Consultancy, Clinton Devon Estates, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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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

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.

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Site Edit site Name Otter and Tamar WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started 2011 Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources 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 Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information