A PROJECT hoping to release beavers into the wild along the River Dyfi is planning on holding workshops in the new year, as they await a license to go ahead with the release. The announcement was made in December.

The Welsh Beaver Project, which is hoping to restore nature on the River Dyfi through the managed reintroduction of beavers, is managed by the North Wales Wildlife Trust on behalf of all five Welsh Wildlife Trusts.

As part of the project, in March this year, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust were granted a licence to release a family of Eurasian beavers into an enclosure at Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve.

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust are now planning to apply for a licence from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to release wild beavers on the River Dyfi.

The trust are unsure of when the beavers will be released as this depends on whether they are granted the licence by NRW.

A series of workshops are planned for the new year so that local communities can find out more about the planned release.

Alicia Leow-Dyke, Welsh Beaver project officer for the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, said: “The Dyfi Catchment Natural Restoration Project aims to help restore nature and improve water management within the Dyfi catchment using sustainable solutions, including beavers.

“Beavers were once widespread across the Welsh countryside, but due to hunting by man for their fur, meat and scent glands, they became extinct around the Middle-Ages.

“The Wildlife Trusts are working to bring beavers back to Wales because of the important role they can play in enriching biodiversity and helping to restore and manage rivers and wetlands. The Dyfi catchment has been proposed as the first pilot release site in Wales.