Beaver Officer

Closing date: Monday 8 May 2023 Salary: £25,000- £27,000 pro rata/per annum Contract type: Fixed term / Working hours: Flexible Location: Five Acres Nature Reserve, Allet, Truro, Cornwall, TR4 9DJ Flexible working arrangements will be considered. Hot desks available at our Truro and Camborne offices.

Beaver swimming with its head just above the water © Russell Savory

Following the success of the enclosed Cornwall Beaver Project at Woodland Valley Farm near Ladock, Cornwall Wildlife Trust ultimately plan to release Eurasian beavers into their largest nature reserve at Helman Tor, southwest of Bodmin. The Beaver Officer’s role will be to consult local people, collect baseline data, and pull together all the information needed for a licence application.

Helman Tor nature reserve features a vast expanse of wild wetland at the heart of Cornwall, which would be further enhanced and revitalised by the presence of these native herbivores. However, due to the long absence of nature’s key ‘ecosystem engineers’ in England, the process of achieving a release licence will be rigorous. The Beaver Officer’s work will ensure that any wild beaver reintroduction is conducted responsibly, in a suitable location, and with the greatest positive impact for wildlife and local communities.

The role is broken down into 8 main areas numbered below:

• Information Gathering and Management – Collating existing data and organising new surveys of the baseline characteristics of Helman Tor’s nature conservation sites where beavers are planned for wild release.

• Constraints and Opportunity Modelling and Assessment – Evaluate existing data modelling and carry out a detailed review and assessment for potential impacts and future changes to landscape features (including designated sites e.g. SSSIs and SACs) if beavers are released and where mitigation will be required to protect public and private assets (e.g. road infrastructure and sewage treatment works.)

• Regulatory Processes – Review Natural England’s guidance for the wild release of beavers and use this to help guide licence application preparation process, including forming a Beaver Management Group for Cornwall.

• Stakeholder Engagement - Undertake engagement and liaison with key stakeholders including landowners, fisheries interests; public bodies, voluntary sector organisations. Use existing beaver research, plus newly gathered information, to help inform stakeholder engagement and answer questions and concerns. Help stakeholders to learn and understand the beaver mitigation hierarchy and how the Cornwall Beaver Management Group will provide support.

• Beaver Translocation and Welfare - Develop methods with external beaver specialists for how to successfully translocate beavers to Helman Tor, including identifying a source population, numbers to be released, soft release techniques/locations and receptor site preparation. Beaver population dynamics and health welfare monitoring protocols will need to be formed, including future support to enhance genetic diversity of founder populations.

• Monitoring Changes - Prepare a monitoring process with key stakeholders for ‘at risk’ features (e.g. sensitive habitats / infrastructure) to form and agree management protocols (e.g. ‘no-activity’ buffer zones around extraction pipes.)

• Licence Application – the above tasks will be used to develop, complete and submit a Natural England Wild Release Licence Application for the reintroduction of beavers to Helman Tor - once a formal application process has been published by the Government (due 2023/24).

Benefits

• Cornwall Wildlife Trust operates excellent toil and flexible working policies
• Enhanced company holiday entitlement – starting at 25 days plus bank holidays and rising to a maximum 30 days over a period of time (1 day extra for each year worked after 4 complete years served)
• All employees have access to the Employee Assistance Programme (24/7 counselling service) and Employee health and wellbeing portal
• Free onsite parking at Five Acres and King Edward Mine sites
• Stakeholder pension scheme

Equal Opportunities

We are committed to ensuring transparent and non-discriminatory recruitment and employment. As a progressive charitable organisation, we champion equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristic.

To Apply:

To apply please send a completed application form (CVs not accepted) to recruitment@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk

The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 8 May 2023.

To discuss the post, please contact Tom Shelley, Conservation Manager tom.shelley@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk

Interviews for this role will be held w/c 15 May 2023.

• Information Pack - Beaver Officer_CM.pdf
• NEW Job Application Form.docx
• CWT Equality-and-diversity-monitoring-form-template (1).docx