Bringing Back the Beaver The Story of One Man’s Quest to Rewild Britain’s Waterways, reviewed

By Derek Gow with a foreword by Isabella Tree, available from Chelsea Green Publishing here.

Bringing Back the Beaver is farmer-turned-ecologist Derek Gow’s inspirational and often riotously funny firsthand account of how the movement to rewild the British landscape with beavers has become the single most dramatic and subversive nature conservation act of the modern era.

Since the early 1990s – in the face of outright opposition from the government, landowning elites and even some conservation professionals – Gow has imported, quarantined and assisted the reestablishment of beavers in waterways across England and Scotland. 

In addition to detailing the ups and downs of rewilding beavers, Bringing Back the Beaver makes a passionate case as to why the return of one of nature’s great problem solvers will be critical as part of a sustainable fix for flooding and future drought, whilst ensuring the creation of essential landscapes that enable the broadest possible spectrum of Britain’s wildlife to thrive. 

Bringing Back the Beaver, The Story of One Man’s Quest to Rewild Britain’s Waterways, reviewed

This is a fun, no BS, tell it like it is narrative about how we have reached the point where there are Beavers in the UK once more. Gow has clearly banged his head against the wall of official policies and procedures in both Scotland and England. He wryly observes that if due scientific policy and procedures had been followed then there would still not be beavers wild and thriving in the rivers.

It is a relatively short read, 170 pages long, but Gow gets to the point quickly and has some sad observations about just what a mess humanity has made of our natural landscapes and flora and fauna. Thankfully the book is also the story of his journey to the point where his various initiatives finally succeed. He explains how they got past dead beavers and questionable UK government opposition (with no legal basis) to reach the point where beavers are now successfully restoring several landscapes to a more optimal dynamic.

A short history of the #beaver from @gow_derek: "According to an old folk tale, when a ship carrying St Felix of Burgundy was wrecked in a storm on the River Babingley in Norfolk in 615 CE, the saint was saved from drowning by a colony of beavers…"https://t.co/PnzsEPUSqI

— Chelsea Green Publishing (@chelseagreen) January 3, 2021

This is a positive and inspiring story, and one that illustrates that rewilding, regenerative agriculture and generally looking to nature to inform our future, sustainable, development is a smart and logical thing to do. Hopefully Gow’s book reaches a wide audience and helps to eventually bring beavers to Ireland too!

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