Experts Say Beavers Could Help Save California from Climate Change
“Beaver dams improve water quality and control water downstream, repair eroded channels, reconnect streams to their floodplains, and the ponds and flooded areas create habitat for many plants and animals,” DFW wrote in its May proposal. “It might be odd, but beavers are an untapped, creative climate-solving hero that helps prevent the loss of biodiversity facing California.”
New Mexico Magazine: The Gila Wilderness At 100
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.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Releases Beavers into the Wild for the First Time in Nearly 75 Years
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has launched the initial phase of its beaver translocation activities, recently conducting the first beaver conservation release in nearly 75 years. Working with the Maidu Summit Consortium, CDFW released a family...
Study: Even during intense wildfires, beaver-dammed waterways provide major wildfire protection
Wildfires are increasing in size and intensity, and billions are spent every year fighting them. New research published by the Geological Society of America suggests land managers could have a new ally to turn to: beavers. When beavers get to work along mountain...
The US is bringing back nature’s best firefighters: beavers
For decades, beavers were considered pests – trapped and shot on sight. Now the attitude towards nature’s best engineers is changing, and farmers are working to bring them back. Jay Wilde stared at the dry creek on the ranch his family had owned for decades for...
Beavers released into California wild for the first time in 75 years
Beavers are native to Northern California, but their population was practically decimated during the fur rush in the 1800s, when maritime traders converged in the Bay Area and California’s Central Coast to harvest the valuable, chestnut-colored fur from the species,...
How Beavers Help Birds and Other Species
New research shows that these ecosystem engineers can be an ally in stopping the decline of biodiversity. Researchers in Poland have found another reason to love beavers: They benefit wintering birds. The rodents, once maligned as destructive pests, have been getting...
History of Beavers – a brief history of beaver numbers in North America
Before widespread fur trapping began in the 17th century, there were likely between 100 million and 400 million beavers in North America. Nearly every waterway held beavers. And historical accounts paint a picture of an American West that was relatively wet and green....