Bringing Back the Beaver: The Story of One Mans Quest to Rewild Britains Waterways

“Derek Gow might be the most colorful character in all of Beaverdom.”—Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager

"Gow’s triumph has been the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver."—The New Yorker

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 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 lifescapes that enable the broadest possible spectrum of Britain’s wildlife to thrive.

“Bringing Back the Beaver is a hilarious, eccentric and magnificent account of a struggle . . . to reintroduce a species crucial to the health of our ecosystems.”—George Monbiot

“A treasure.”—Booklist

Derek Gow is a farmer, nature conservationist and the author of Bringing Back the Beaver, Birds, Beasts and Bedlam and Hunt for the Shadow Wolf. Born in Dundee, he left school when he was 17 and worked in agriculture for five years. Inspired by the writing of Gerald Durrell, he jumped at the chance to manage a European wildlife park in central Scotland in the late 1990s before moving on to develop two nature centres in England. He now lives with his children, Maysie and Kyle, on a 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border, which he is in the process of rewilding. Derek has played a significant role in the reintroduction of the Eurasian beaver, the water vole and the white stork in England. He is currently working on a reintroduction project for the wildcat.