The North Yorkshire Forrest has welcomed new additions to it's resident Beaver family.
Two adult beavers from Scotland were released into an enclosure in Cropton Forest in 2019 as part of a five-year scientific trial.
The communities downstream from Cropton Forest have suffered severe flooding in the last twenty years, with the most serious flood in 2007 causing approximately £7 million in damage to homes and businesses. Man-made dams have already been helping to reduce flooding, however they are are expensive and time-consuming to look after.
As a follow on to the 'Slowing the Flow' project to reduce flooding in the area, two beavers were released into a secure area to maintain the existing dams and create their own.
The Scottish Beavers have settled into their new surroundings well and had their first baby beavers, know as Kits, in the Summer of 2020.
Now rangers at the Forrest say two more kits have arrived taking the family size to eight. The team at Cropton say:
"We are excited to welcome two new arrivals to the colony. The baby kits are settling in well, and the now family of eight are continuing their daily dam building activities."
Beavers can completely change their surrounding habitats for the better. They build dams to restrict water flow creating ponds of deep water, coppice trees and shrubs and dig canal systems creating diverse wetlands. These can bring huge benefits to a wide range of plants and wildlife.
As well as benefiting wildlife, beavers help humans by creating large areas of water-retaining wetlands which reduces flooding downstream. They also help to clean water and reduce silt levels. With all these benefits to people and wildlife.


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