Seminar "How can beavers help river management and climate resilience?"

After a long period of decline, beaver populations have been expanding in Europe and North America since the beginning of the 20th century. They have the exceptional ability to engineer new habitats by building dams which modify the flow of water and retain sediments, nutriments, plants and wildlife. These modifications can interact with human interets leading sometimes to conflicts, but they also deliver ecosystem services and can help river restoration. Understanding these issues and sharing knowledge and experiences are therefore key for a successful partnership with beavers in restoring ecosystems and combating climateg change. 

The aim of this seminar is to foster the exchange of knowledge and experiences between scientists and managers, and between conservation and restoration experts.

To achieve this goal, we are scheduling three dates that will include national and international presentations, workshops and field visits:

• 27 May: Webinar ‘Beavers as an ecosystem engineer, impact and role in restoration’.
• 3 & 4 June: Hybrid seminar on ‘Beaver management, feedback and knowledge sharing’ and field trip

This seminar is intended for researchers, river managers, naturalists and students.

Detailed programme

Monday 27 May // 17.00 - 18.30

Webinar: «Beavers as an ecosystem engineer, impact and role in restoration»

• Introduction : summary of the bibliographical report by the students of the Water Science master's program of Lyon (Margaux Predhomme, Arnaud Forêt, Clément George)
• Influence of beavers on the structure and functioning of river corridors (Annegret Larsen, Wageningen University)
• Beavers as ecosystem engineers - ecosystem services and associated management (Alan Puttock, University of Exeter)

Monday 3 June // 14.00 - 18.30

Seminar and workshops: Beaver management, feedback and knowledge sharing

Valence - Centre INEED (Valence TGV)

• 14.00 - 16.00 Hybrid seminar (face-to-face and remote)
  • What can we learn from reintroductions in France? (Yoann Bressan, French Biodiversity Agency)
  • How to manage beavers in an agricultural or urban context: the example of Switzerland (Christof Angst, InfoFauna)
  • How can we help beavers to return and why? Feedback from the United States (Emily Fairfax, University of Minnesota)

• 16.00 - 16.30 Coffee break

• 16.30 - 18.30 Workshops  
  • What are the needs, fears and desires to make the beaver an ally for local areas?
  • How can we work together to develop new knowledge and continue to share?
  • 180-second pitch for research projects or experience feedback

• 19.00 Restaurant

Tuesday 4 June // 9.30 - 12.00

Sites visit in the Drôme

• Visit to a site of your choice (car pooling available) :
  • La lierne, Creation of beaver-type structures to restore the river (Cédric Cadet, Valence Romans Agglo)
  • Gaec de Montlahuc, Return of the beaver in an agricultural context (Marc-Antoine Forconi, Association Biovallée)

Registration

Registration is free and compulsory. It is possible to register for one date or for the whole programme.
Participants are responsible for their own travel to Valence, accommodation and transport to the sites. You will receive a link to organise car pooling once your registration has been validated.
The restaurant on the evening of 3 June will be provided by H₂O'Lyon.

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Nom / Name

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Structure


Situation / Status
Etudiant / Student
Enseignant-chercheur, Chercheur / Lecturer, Researcher
Professionnel / Professional

Vous vous inscrivez à / You are registering for
Webinaire du 27 mai / Webinar on 27 May
Séminaire du 3 juin / Seminar on 3 June (en présentiel / face-to-face)
Séminaire du 3 juin / Seminar on 3 June (à distance / remote)
Visite de La Lierne / Visit the Lierne site
Visite du Gaec de Montlahuc / Visit the Gaec de Montlahuc site


In view of the Civil Code, in particular Article 9, on privacy, this authorisation is subject to your agreement, for the fixation on audiovisual media and the publication of your image and/or your voice in the framework of the seminar "Beavers: an ally for local areas in a changing climate?" on the website and social networks of EUR H₂O'Lyon and Réseaux Rivières TV.
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Organising committee

• Antoine Werochowski (Conseil régional de Bourgogne Franche Comté, Réseaux Rivières)
• Hervé Piégay (Laboratory EVS, ENS de Lyon)
• Sabine Girard (Laboratory LESSEM, INRAE)
• Claire-Lise Meyer (Graduate school H₂O’Lyon)

How to get there

Download access map