Swedens new beaver population – 100 years Beavers were re-introduced to Sweden one hundred years ago, an unbelievably successful conservation project, but with consequences. So, what do we do now?

In July 2022 it will be a 100-years ago the beaver was re-introduced to Sweden after being missing for roughly 50-years because of centuries of extreme hunting pressure.

The motive was to “restore our devastated fauna” – an early forerunner of current work with rewilding and biological diversity.In connection with 100-year anniversary we want to-arrange a workshop-compile information for local work with beavers, for both authorities and private actors.-create a digital platform to present knowledge about beavers and management methods.Most likely we today have the largest beaver population in Europe (≈130 000) and it is found in most of the country but the distribution continues to increase.By damming watersheds and felling trees the beaver creates a disturbance regime which has documented positive effects on biological diversity on the landscape scale.

At the same time this will sometimes also result in damage to forested land, roads etc and sometimes conflicts with other conservation interests.

Local authorities and citizens are often unknowing of how to deal with situations when beaver have caused some kind of problems.

It results in short-term, reactive measures.Our aim is that the latest science news and experiences are to be used when managing our increasing beaver population.

We want to inform about positive as well as negative consequences of the changes beavers do to their environment and to inform about methods to minimize impact when it is unwanted