Plan to bring three families of beavers to Ennerdale valley
Getty ImagesPlans to release three families of beavers in a remote valley in the Lake District have been unveiled.
Wild Ennerdale wants to bring six adults as well as their babies, known as kits, from Scotland to a new home on a stretch of the River Liza, in the upper valley east of Ennerdale Water.
The conservation group hopes the mammals will provide ecological benefits by building dams.
Beavers were hunted to extinction for fur and meat in the 16th Century.
The conservation group is planning a series of drop-in events including on 16 March at Cleator Moor Parish Hall from 14:00.
Beavers have been dubbed the ultimate environmental engineers, gnawing down trees to build dams, alleviating flooding and sparking new life into barren wildernesses.
Wild EnnerdaleIn recent years some farmers and anglers have expressed concerns, in the wake of similar projects, that beavers eat crops and that their dams hinder the migration of salmon.
However, Wild Ennerdale said once it had taken stock of the feedback from the consultation it hoped to apply for a licence to natural England for phase one hosting beavers east of Ennerdale Water.
Depending on funding the earliest any reintroduction could go ahead would be Spring 2023.
'Explore unhindered'
The organisation receives £32,000 a year from four partners, the National Trust, United Utilities, Forestry England and Natural England.
A spokesman said: "Our vision is to see free-living beavers reintroduced the whole Ehen and Keekle catchment area from mountains to sea.
"This would start a three to five-year public engagement period with local landowners and communities to share and build up knowledge and experience with beavers living in the landscape.
"At the end of this period, we would hold a formal consultation to see if the local community supports the vision for beavers to have access to the full length of the River Ehen."
