Beaver Restoration

Leave It To Beavers In Washington

By Hannelore Sudermann

As we crunch through the snow in the hills above Winthrop, Steve Bondi 02 and Ryan Anderson ’08 are eager to see evidence that their project to improve riparian habitat and provide late-season water to the Methow Valley is working.

They’re building dams, but with the help of nature’s own unparalleled engineer—the beaver. The effort for a time seemed just a joke in the state capital—that of beavers building dams along rivers and streams in the Columbia River watershed to improve the hydrology of the region.

Read the full article: Leaving it to Beavers in Washington

Better Ways to Manage Utah’s Beavers

By Brett Prettyman

Beaver Creek, Uinta Mountains »Trapped by the hundreds of thousands for more than a century, beavers nearly disappeared from the North American landscape. Trappers pursuing beaver fur for the European market were among the first explorers, other than American Indians, to visit the area of the American West now known as Utah.

“Dams change everything,” said Mary O’Brien….

Now, beavers are in demand again, not for their fur but for their engineering expertise, and the water conservation and forest restoration that results from their dam-building skills.

Read the full article: Better Ways to Manage Utah’s Beavers

Beavers Bring their Skills to a Kentucky Creek’s Restoration

By James Bruggers

Beavers are adding a whole new dimension to a pioneering stream restoration project in Bernheim Forest. Nearly a decade ago, construction
crews put the curves and meanders back in a nearly 4,000 foot-long stretch of Wilson Creek that had long ago been squeezed up against the side of its hollow, to make room for farmland. Native trees and wildflowers were planted, and fish populations grew.

Two years ago, beavers moved in and are now putting their own engineering skills to work on the creek. And Bernheim officials couldn’t be happier.

Read the full article: Kentucky Beaver Restoration

“There are not a lot of beavers living in places that let beavers do what
beavers do,” said Andrew Berry, the forest manager at Bernheim.