California is embracing beavers and the role they play in the ecosystem after years of viewing the animals as a nuisance for chewing down trees and blocking up streams.
The state recently enacted a new policy that encourages landowners and agencies dealing with beaver damage to find alternative solutions before seeking permission from authorities to kill the animals. California is also running pilot projects to relocate beavers to places where they can be more beneficial.
The aim is to preserve more beavers, along with their nature-friendly behaviors, including creating lush habitats that lure species back into now-urban areas, enhance groundwater supplies and buffer against the threat of wildfires.
“There’s been this major paradigm shift throughout the west where people have really transitioned from viewing beavers strictly as a nuisance species, and recognizing them for the ecological benefits that they have,” said Valerie Cook, the beaver restoration program manager for California’s department of fish and wildlife.
The push follows similar efforts in other western states including Washington, which has a pilot beaver relocation program, Cook said. It marks a new chapter in Californians’ lengthy history with the animals, which experts say used to be everywhere, but after years of trapping, attempts at reintroduction and then removal, they are found in much smaller numbers than they once were – largely in the Central valley and the northern part of the state.
It is unknown how many beavers live in California, but hundreds of permits are sought by landowners each year that typically allow them to kill the animals. The beaver population in North America used to range between 100 million and 200 million but now totals between 10 million and 15 million, according to the state.
Kate Lundquist, the director of the Water Institute at the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, said she expects California’s changes will lead to fewer beavers killed in the state and a growth in wetland spaces. She said she believed the past three years of drought and devastating wildfires contributed to the state’s shift on beavers.
“There has been increased motivation to identify and fund the implementation of nature-based climate-smart solutions,” she said. “Beaver restoration is just that.”
Beavers live in family units and quickly build dams on streams, creating ponds. The pools help slow the flow of water, replenishing groundwater supplies, and can also stall the spread of wildfires – a critical issue for a state plagued by fires in recent years, said Emily Fairfax, professor of environmental science and management at California State University, Channel Islands.
“You talk to anyone who has lived near beaver ponds. They’ll tell you: these things don’t burn,” said Fairfax, who has researched beavers and the ponds they build.
The animals are not a protected species, but they help create habitat that is critical for others, such as the coho salmon, which is listed under the Endangered Species Act. Young salmon grow and thrive in beaver ponds before heading to the ocean, which gives them a better shot at survival, said Tom Wheeler, the executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center.
California will continue to issue depredation permits as needed, but the state wants people to try other solutions before resorting to killing the animals, officials said, such as wrapping trees with wire mesh or using flow devices on streams to control beaver pond levels to prevent flooding.
In some cases, it may involve relocating beavers to places that want them. Vicky Monroe, statewide conflict programs coordinator for California’s department of fish and wildlife, said her office has long received requests from groups that want beavers, but the state didn’t have a mechanism to legally move them until recently.
California has planned two pilot relocation projects, one of which would bring beavers back to the Tule River. Kenneth McDarment, a councilmember for the Tule River Indian Tribe, said the tribe started seeking ways to reintroduce beavers nearly a decade ago due to drought and hopes to see them relocated later this year.
“We’re going to give these beavers a chance to do what they do naturally in a place where they’re wanted,” he said.
