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 interest 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 June: Webinar  ‘Beaver management, feedback and knowledge sharing’.
• 4 June: Field trip.

This event 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).
• Beaver ecosystem services - how our societies benefit from beaver riverscapes. (Chris Jordan, NOAA Federal).

Monday 3 June // 14.00 - 16.00

Webinar: "Beaver management, feedback and knowledge sharing"

• What can we learn from reintroductions in France? (Yoann Bressan, French Biodiversity Agency).
• Managing beavers in a cultural landscape: 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).

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).

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 (H₂O’Lyon Graduate school).