News & Updates

My View by Julia Morgan My partner, Alex, and I live in an old adobe schoolhouse in Ocate, about an hour’s drive north of Las Vegas, N.M. We raise Valais Blackneck Goats with our two livestock guardian dogs and are also volunteer wildland firefighters. On the...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture killed more than 23,000 beavers in 2017. There’s a better way to manage our ecosystem engineers. Each spring Wildlife Services, the branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture tasked with controlling problematic fauna, engages in a...

Beavers, once pilloried as pests, have undergone an image makeover in the Beaver State, thanks in part to legislative champions. Last year Oregon’s governor signed the “Beaver Believer” bill, which recognizes the rodent’s potential role in mitigating climate change....

A family of the largest rodents in North America were released in a California watershed “for the first time in over a century,” officials said. Beavers were once staples of the watershed on the Tule River Indian Reservation, and they were featured in pictographs...

SACRAMENTO, CA—Yesterday, Assembly Bill (AB) 2196 by Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael) passed the State Assembly by a vote of 72-0. Sponsored by the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, AB 2196 aims to ensure the longevity of the Beaver Restoration...

Beaver wetlands provide a wildlife refuge from wildfire. Photo by Emily Fairfax. Stretches of river that had beaver dams fared better in three fearsome Colorado fires in 2020. People charged with repairing wildfire damage are taking heed. River segments hosting...

“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.”

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.

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...

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...

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 the...

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,...

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...

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....

As California grapples with drought, a record heat wave and persistent wildfires, one state agency is turning to the beaver in its battle against climate change. The large rodents, according to researchers, are resourceful engineers capable of increasing water...