In response to the #BeaverPopulation decline, #California, #Idaho and #Utah are among a handful of #US states that have recently launched major #BeaverRestoration programs.
Sure enough, data from a #NASA satellite shows denser patches of green vegetation where beavers have been reintroduced when compared to areas where their population is limited. #Rewilding #WaterCrisis
#Beavers are helping fight #ClimateChange, #SatelliteData shows | Space
https://www.space.com/beaver-dam-nasa-satellite-data
Better news out of #Oregon.
“Beavers and #humans have this in common: They both work to alter the flow of water to their own benefit. Unfortunately for both parties, their activities are sometimes at odds.
“Beavers are land managers like farmers,” said Brian Bangs, #aquatic #ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “They don’t always see eye-to-eye, but some values are shared.”
In the past, #trapping or #Killing has been the main way to control those beavers disturbing operations on the farm with their dam-building. But lately, #scientists, #tribes, #Conservation groups and landowners are re-discovering ways to work with nature’s pesky engineers, according to the Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership in Oregon.”
Great!!! We’re about to get to the #beaverrestoration!!!
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#Wyoming!
“After the consequential #floods in the spring of 2015, Coffman says, “We came to the observation that there were some serious benefits to having #beaver dams and beavers in place.” This beaver complex serves as a model for the conditions that he hopes to restore several streams to. Across an increasingly parched and degraded West, land managers and researchers seeking effective and efficient water management solutions may benefit from the same realization. Perhaps, it’s time to end recent antagonism against #beavers and instead form an alliance with nature’s most effective, once prolific waterway engineers.”
https://westernconfluence.org/leave-it-to-beaver
#beaverrestoration #drought #floods #climate
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#beaverrestoration in Idaho!
“University of Idaho researchers are testing artificial beaver dams as a tool to restore degraded #stream systems, thereby improving riparian #habitat and bolstering the late-season water supply.
Known as beaver dam analogs, these structures comprise the same materials #beavers use in nature, including willow boughs, sediment and stone. They cause water to pool and spill beyond the banks. The spillage supports #marshland vegetation before seeping into the #groundwater and re-emerging later in the season downstream.”
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"#Beaver are considered a “keystone species” because, without them, the #ecosystem would look very different. In RMNP, for example, beaver dams created marshy areas that retained #water, served as #fire breaks, controlled #flooding, allowed for healthy growth of willow stands, and supported many #species of animals. Without the beaver, these marshy areas become dry meadows, poorly adapted to changing #climate conditions. Think about recent fires threatening the Estes Valley, two of which were stopped near Bear Lake Road as they moved through Moraine Park. Dry meadow lands provide fuel to a fire compared to the marshlands that existed there in the past.
Now, in this time of increasingly common drought and fire, RMNP is working with some success to bring back beaver by fencing in areas where willow once grew – and now grows abundantly once again."
Awesome! Great work in #Colorado with #beaverrestoration! #rewilding
Bringing #beavers back to #colorado
"In the time of Enos Mills, and until relatively recently, #beaver were abundant in the Estes Valley, Tahosa Valley, and in many parts of North America. Locally, there were beaver dams and lodges at Lily Lake and along Fish Creek. There were also beaver colonies in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), creating and maintaining habitat for many other species. A good example of a thriving beaver colony can be seen from Fish Creek Road, west of the intersection with Rockwood Lane. But now, beaver are rare in this area. What happened? Outside RMNP, #trapping, #grazing, #logging, and human settlement took its toll on beaver populations. Inside RMNP, #overgrazing by ungulates like elk, and now moose, eliminated willow habitat beavers depended on and turned the marshes into dry meadow."
https://www.estesparknews.com/estes_park_news/article_4f458d40-9cd0-11ed-aa4b-cbcb61b400a1.html
#beaverrestoration #habitat #ecosystems #conservation
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THREAD: More thoughts about Leila Phillip's book #Beaverland. I made it to chapter 13, where Phillip meets up with Scott McGill at Long Green Creek within the #Chesapeake Bay #watershed. McGill owns an #environmental restoration company called Ecotone.
He is one of the founders and sponsors of #BeaverCON and I attended many a zoom with him while serving on the planning committee for the 2022 conference.
#beavers #beaverrestoration #ecosystems
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Rachel Siegel