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 storage and creating natural firebreaks with their dams.
On Tuesday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife posted its first job listing for its new beaver restoration unit. The senior environmental scientist will help develop methods for “nature-based restoration solutions involving beavers” and artificial beaver dams.
The scientist will also help update the state’s policies on beavers, which in recent decades have been deemed a nuisance rodent responsible for flooding farmlands.
But with streams and rivers heating up or evaporating and wildfires blazing across the state, California is willing to reconsider the beaver’s role in the water cycle.