16/10/2026
It’s Flood Action Week, and we’re exploring how beavers can be our best farm flood defenders. Farmer Chris Jones shares how beavers help prevent flooding in the Fal Estuary. His 170-acre mixed farm is the home of the renowned Cornwall Beaver Project. 🦫
Chris believes beavers play an important role as ecosystem engineers, when they are in the right place. They help farms deal with heavy rainfall in winters, which are getting milder and wetter.
“The highest flood levels are reduced, cutting the risk of properties flooding downstream, while peak flows are cut in half compared to pre-beaver levels. Introducing beavers also means the water is cleaner, with reduced levels of nitrates and silt heading downstream. In our case, this protects the sensitive Fal Estuary,” said Chris.
“Beavers create a very cheap reservoir,” he says. “There’s no planning permission; they just do it. Beaver restoration would cost 0.5% of Defra’s flood budget,” he adds.
Read more, link in the comments. 👇
