Beaver

Beavers as Environmental Engineers

Beavers not only prevent flooding, and restore river ecosystems, but they create new spawning ground for fish species such as salmon.

Around 80% of North American species rely on the types of habitat that beavers create.

Beavers vs Fire

When very similar streams were compared with and without beavers. The landscapes without beavers have been found to burn 3 times more intensely than the same kinds of areas with beavers and their dams.

After fire raged through one California landscape, one waterway, tucked between hills, remained basically untouched by the flames that charred the surrounding hills.

Now beavers are removed from areas where they have been considered a nuisance and are being returned to landscapes where they can replenish waterways and groundwater.

Beavers vs Drought

Landscapes with beavers tend to be much greener as they create underground water storage. When droughts hit, landscapes with sever droughts can stay green and healthy for at least 3 years compared to waterways without these amazing creatures.

Beavers Help Salmon & Other Fish

Beavers Without Borders This 16:19 minute documentary explores beavers after reintroductions to England, Bavaria, and Scotland.

70% of the world's salmon spawn in Norway, and of their top 10 salmon rivers, 7 have beavers, and 6 are at capacity for beavers. This indicates that beavers improve fish stock numbers, and their presence will continue to help reverse the mass extinction of fish currently happening due to human activities. 

Indicator Species

Beaver presence and numbers can help indicate the health of the biomes where they are found. Their power as fire deterrents can also indicate safer places to build or replant trees.

Threats to Beaver

Calls to Action

Levels 1-3 Action

Level 3-4 Action

How to Help Beavers

Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA) & Post-Assisted Log Structures (PALS)

"A Beaver Dam Analog (BDA) is a man-made structure designed to mimic the form and function of a natural beaver dam. BDAs can also be used to increase the probability of successful beaver translocation by creating immediate deep water habitat that reduces the risk of predation.  In general, the design and installation of BDA complexes is a simple, cost-effective, non-intrusive approach to stream restoration that can influence a suite of hydraulic, geomorphic and hydrologic processes in order to achieve a range of common restoration goals." 

Human-built Beaver Dam Analogs can be installed to help jump-start a new habitat. These structures provide the same function of slowing down waterways, creating habitats for fish to spawn in, and creating lush wet landscapes where droughts have been cutting back on biodiversity. Some of them even attract beavers who sometimes take over the maintenance and improvement process. 

Climate Change Adaptation Through Beaver Mimicry (4:20 minute video) Jeff Dougherty builds a beaver dam analog alone, talking about how the Native Americans historically used these techniques to store water for late summer. Later in the video are demonstrations for design and techniques used by a small group of people with simple tools. 

Text from the video above: "Jeff is demonstrating the value of beaver mimicry and inspiring the state of Montana, federal, and private entities to incorporate this approach into their riparian restoration efforts."

"With the help of WCS, beaver mimicry has become a widely utilized tool for restoring watersheds, helping ecosystems adapt to the effects of climate change across the arid Rocky Mountain West."

Education & Training Opportunities

Safety & Construction Resources 


Legally Required Surveys & Land Preparation for Beavers

10:17 minute video.

This video shows some of the steps Mossy Earth had to go through to pick out degraded land, and then ensure their damming and reforestation project wouldn't negatively impact vulnerable Scottish species such as otters and fresh water clams.

Your own region may have different prerequisites.

Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes 

The resources in this section are from the UtahState University Restoration Consortium. They include PDFs and helpful images. Full PDFs are available for free at ResearchGate, but ResearchGate requires a free account.

Chapter 3: Planning for Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration "The third chapter covers planning for low tech process-based restoration. We illustrate the process with the NRCS Conservation Planning Process, and show what aspects are distinctive to low-tech restoration. Specifically, the following topics are covered:

Chapter 3 also has appendices on:

Chapter 4: Mimicking and Promoting Wood Accumulation and Beaver Dam Activity with Post-Assisted Log Structures and Beaver Dam Analogues "The fourth chapter is meant to be the authoritative reference on two low-tech restoration techniques, which are lacking guidelines in the literature: post-assisted log structures (PALS) & beaver dam analogues (BDAs). The chapter focuses on helping readers understand what PALS & BDAs are, how they are used in low-tech restoration design, and a specific focus on the processes intially mimicked, later promoted, and that eventually become self-sustatining; namely wood accumulation and beaver dam activity.

Chapter 4 also has appendices on:

Chapter 5: Designing Low-Tech Restoration Projects "The fifth chapter covers the low-tech process-based restoration design processl. This process is generic to desiging any type of low-tech process-based restoration treatment (not just PALS & BDAs). Speifically, the following topics are covered:

Chapter 5 also has an appendices on:

Chapter 6: Low-Tech Restoration Project Implementation "The sixth chapter is targeted at practitioners responsible for implementing low-tech process-based restoration projects. We focus on the three primary components of implementation and cover the following topics:

Chapter 6 also has appendices on:

Additional Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration Resources

Beaver Relocation Programs

North America

USA

Washington

Tools & Resources

Eco-System Restoration & Assessment Tools

Humane Methods to Resolve Human/Beaver Conflict

Reintroduction Feasibility Studies 

Adoption Programs

North America

Canada

Organizations

Here's a general list of Beaver-Friendly Organizations: https://martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wordpress/beaver-friendly-organizations/ 

International

Asia

Russia

Europe

Península Ibérica/Iberian Peninsula: Spain/España/Espanha & Portugal

UK

North America

Canada

Ottawa

USA

California

Iowa

Massachusetts

Nevada

Oregon

Utah

Washington

Maps

International

Eurasia 

Europe

Finland

Norway

Scotland

North America

USA

California

Nevada