A study by the National Park Service demonstrated “that beavers and their associated dams play an important role in the formation, function, and persistence of riparian wetlands.” By creating more complex river flows, beavers produce healthier wetlands, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, increase biodiversity, and raise the water table, stabilizing threatened ecosystems.
Above beaver dams, water gets filtered of contaminants and excess nutrients like nitrogen before reentering the main channel downstream. According to new research by Stanford University scientists, “when it comes to water quality in mountain watersheds, beaver dams can have a far greater influence than climate-driven, seasonal extremes in precipitation.” Fortuitously, the study says, beaver populations have increased at the same time the Southwest grows hotter and drier.