England used 2 reintroduced beaver pairs to solve flash flooding across a 12km river catchment; the result transformed flood-prone valleys into resilient wetland buffers

A few unexpected guests arrived on England’s River Otter around 2008: Eurasian beavers. They established themselves along the river in Devon.

In 2014, when video evidence confirmed that the beavers were reproducing, their presence attracted attention. The discovery put them at the center of a conservation dilemma. The UK Government initially planned to remove the beavers from the River Otter, but the surprising outcomes changed the decision.