BEAVER RELOCATION ISN’T THE ANSWER

heidi08 Beavers April 10, 2025

I just read the entire report about the series of unfortunate beaver events in CDFW’s pilot relocation efforts. I will have lots to say about it in the future. But for now this is by far the best part:

Source Beaver Selection

The extent of human-beaver conflicts reported each year is far greater than the number and geographic distribution of beaver family groups that can be translocated for restoration projects each year. As such, and since other beavers often readily migrate into recently vacated beaver habitat, translocation should not be considered a primary solution for resolving beaver depredation. For these reasons, as well as for the ecological benefits beavers provide to the ecosystem, the Department encourages human-beaver coexistence through implementation of non-lethal deterrents as the primary solution for depredation

SLO BEAVERS CATCH UP!

heidi08 Beavers April 9, 2025

What are you doing this weekend? Why not celebrate with your new friends at the third annual beaver festival in San Luis Obispbo?

3rd Annual SLO County Beaver Festival

The day includes free admission, food, vendors, live music, children’s activities, a beaver trivia contest, speakers, and a plethora of information on the benefits that beavers.

The SLO Beaver Brigade invites eager beavers of all ages to the Third Annual San Luis Obispo County Beaver Festival on Saturday, April 12th in Mission Plaza from 10 am to 3 pm. We will have strong focus on the nexus between prescribed burn, beaver restoration, and ranching at this year’s festival.

Cosponsored and founded by Santa Barbara Permaculture Network

The day includes free admission, food, vendors, live music, children’s activities, a beaver trivia contest, speakers, and a plethora of information on the benefits that beavers provide to us in our state and county. Live music by local violinist Miles “Danger” Kennedy and Cuyama Mama & the Hot Flashes.

They’re growing up so straight and tall! Sniff. I remember when they were just an apple in Audrey’s eye!

Event Schedule

10:30 am ♫ Miles ‘Danger’ Kennedy on the violin ♫

11:30 am Opening Speaker Shaunie Briggs, Salinan Tribe

12:00 pm Keynote Speaker Molly Alves, California Department of Fish & Wildlife

12:30 pm Restoration Focus Speakers
Sophia Marquez, SLO Prescribed Burn Association
Grant Johnson, Grant Johnson Ag
Cooper Lienhart, Nature’s Engineers

1:00 pm Kids’ Beaver Trivia Contest

1:15pm Creek Walk & Talk Creek Lands Conservation: The Creek as a Classroom

1:30 pm ♫ Cuyama Mama & the Hot Flashes ♫

Our Keynote Speaker

Molly Alves, Beaver Restoration Supervisor for California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Molly Alves has a long history relocating beavers from areas where coexistence is not possible to headwater streams that beavers struggle to naturally recolonize in an effort to store water, enhance biodiversity, and protect our landscape from wildfire. Come learn about California’s relocation efforts from the experts.

Great to have Molly on board. Maybe you could ask her about the 40-60 percent debacle I can’t really see how they aren’t sure whether 12.6 beavers died or 15.6?

Oh and my presentation to the Sonoma Historical Society is tomorrow night. If you think you might want tickets sign up here:

RELOCATED BEAVERS HAVE 40% CHANCE

heidi08 Beavers April 8, 2025

There’s a back-patting update from CDFW on their beaver relocation project for the past two years. We did such a good job in Maidu habitats beavers built a hundred foot dam!

And only 40-60% of them died! Isn’t that great?

CDFW Sees ‘Ecosystem Engineers’ at Work in Beaver Restoration Pilot Projects

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) set out on its mission one-and-a-half years ago to begin returning beavers to watersheds throughout their native range in the state. Since then, the translocated beavers have begun their work as ecosystem engineers, initiating the restoration of wetlands and building resilience to the effects of climate change such as drought and wildfire.

Today, CDFW announces the release of a status report on the translocated beavers and restoration sites, summarizing project successes, lessons learned and next steps for beaver restoration in California.

Between October 2023 and September 2024, CDFW placed 28 beavers in the Sierra Nevada at five release sites within two pilot projects, which were launched in partnership with the Tule River Tribe in Southern California and the Maidu Summit Consortium in Northern California.

Yes and you got a ton of great press and made a lot of foolish people feel very hopeful and happy. How did that go?

The translocated beavers have since produced two litters of kits and built dams at three of the release sites. At the most productive release site, beavers have begun to dig a network of canals, reconnected the stream with its floodplain and increased the surface water area by approximately 23%.

As part of the state’s Initiative to Expand Nature-Based Solutions, in 2022 CDFW created the Beaver Restoration Program using funding appropriated when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1757. The program aims to better understand where, when and how beavers, long thought of as a nuisance species, can be utilized to restore ecosystems and habitats in California. That knowledge will allow CDFW and the state of California to effectively utilize beavers as a nature-based solution in restoring and conserving habitats and watersheds.

“The Beaver Restoration Program was formed because we recognize the value that beavers can provide on a landscape,” said CDFW Beaver Restoration Program Supervisor Molly Alves. “We are putting beavers back into those portions of their historic range where they can build dams and create wetlands that protect our landscape, wildlife and people from climate change like drought and wildfire.”

Ooh they had kits and built dams. You did such a great job! What a stroke of genius!

To date, survival of the translocated beavers is estimated to be between 40-60%, with the primary causes of mortality being predation and illnesses related to underlying conditions (e.g., pneumonia) and capture-related stressors.

Read that again. You can accurately measure the amount of water but you can’t accurately count the number of beavers that lived? Are you kidding me?

Here you are, with the benefit of years of learning from Methow and Utah and Washington state and Sherri Tippie and didn’t know the beavers in your care had pneumonia and you killed some beavers from TRAPPING STRESSORS?

“Beavers used to be everywhere, but sadly that is no longer the case,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “Our history treated beavers as nuisances, and we removed them from the landscape. In the past year CDFW working with the Tule River Tribe and the Maidu Summit Consortium brought beavers home to places they’ve been absent over 100 years.

“Beavers are nature’s Swiss Army knife. The things they can do are amazing. We are finding in some of our scientific work that when beavers are on the landscape in the Sierra, the way they can create wet meadows serves as a fire break that can slow down or even stop catastrophic wildfire,” added Director Bonham.

CDFW’s status report also details the process for submitting beaver restoration project proposals (i.e., translocation requests), identifying priority projects for future implementation and selecting beavers for translocation. Additionally, to better understand the current distribution of beavers in California, CDFW is asking for the public’s participation through an online Beaver Observation Survey Tool.

Beavers are wonderful and we don’t deserve them.

BEAVERS ARE SENDING THEIR BEST PEOPLE

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers April 7, 2025

Years ago, in eager younger days when almost all beaver news was bad. there were so many miserable reports about beavers that I was exhausted responding to them. I thought it might be more effective for a different voice to answer these articles instead of that tree-hugging white lady from California. I needed more cred. I dreamed up the character of a ruddy ex-trapper who had learned first hand why beavers matter. I even made up a name for him.

Buck Lanyard.

Buck was much more believable than Heidi, let me tell you. He explained about flow devices. Salmon. And drought. But he was never as good as this guy.

This letter is outstanding.

Bring beavers back (Opinion)

If you’ve walked along Tahoe’s various Creeks or fished the Truckee River, you’ve probably noticed how our waterways shift with the seasons—and maybe even how they’ve changed over the years. For me, these streams have always been more than just scenery. I grew up fishing them, studying them, and learning how their rhythms shape the landscape and everything that lives within it. That’s why I’ve become especially interested in one of the region’s not so famous natural allies: the North American beaver.

I’m paying attention. Aren’t you?

In the 1980s, beavers were nearly wiped out from the Tahoe Basin and the greater Truckee River Basin. At the time, they were seen mainly as a problem—causing flooding, damaging infrastructure, and blocking culverts. But as I’ve spent more time out in the field and more time with a fly rod in hand, I’ve come to realize how much we’ve lost by pushing them out.

As part of a field-based research project I studied the ecological impact of beavers in the Truckee Basin. I collected data on stream flow, water depth, temperature, vegetation, and species presence at sites with and without active beaver ponds. Drawing from methods used by researchers, I wanted to see what the data could tell us—and what it couldn’t. What I found reinforced what I’d already witnessed while fishing and exploring: beavers make ecosystems better

Oh I’m loving this letter. Who is this man? I’m thinking we need to meet and be friends.

Their dams slow the flow of water, trap sediment, and create deep pools that act as critical habitat for trout, especially in the summer when stream temperatures rise. These pools offer cooler, oxygen-rich refuge and abundant insect life—exactly the kind of environment wild trout need to thrive. I’ve seen firsthand how fish stack up in beaver ponds during the hottest months, finding shelter where otherwise the water would be too shallow or warm.

But it’s not just fish that benefit. Waterfowl like widgeon and mergansers often nest near beaver ponds, where thick vegetation and still water offer both food and protection. And beyond supporting wildlife, beavers also build natural firebreaks. By raising the water table and saturating nearby soils, they create wet zones that are far more resistant to wildfire, an ecosystem service that couldn’t be more timely in a region like ours.

This letter! It’s the best! I’m week in the knees and feel like I need a cigarette and I don’t even smoke. Is it hot in here?

What started as a fun side project quickly became something more personal. As an angler, a conservationist, and someone who’s spent most of his life in the Sierra, I came to see beavers not as pests but as partners—quiet, persistent builders who work for free and never ask for anything in return. They don’t burn fossil fuels, they don’t need concrete or engineering plans, and yet they outperform many of our most expensive restoration projects.

Of course, beaver restoration needs to be thoughtful. Infrastructure and private property must be protected. But there are modern tools—pond levelers, culvert protectors, and tree guards—that make coexistence not only possible, but practical. And perhaps most importantly, it’s a conversation the entire community should be part of. This isn’t just about one species—it’s about how we choose to live with nature, not against it.

Christopher Paganelli (Truckee)

Oh my goodness. I think that’s the very best letter I’ve ever read. And from TRUCKEE no less which is a pretty trap-happy region.

Thank you Chris

Happy International Beaver Day