The Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona Game and Fish Department are currently studying whether to introduce beavers into Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, about 50 miles southeast of Tucson.

The proposal is the latest in a growing trend across the West to restore beaver populations and let these unique rodents do what comes naturally: build dams that slow the flow of creeks and streams, creating crucial wetland habitat while curbing erosion and storing water for plants, animals and people.

The nonprofit Watershed Management Group recently launched a summer fundraising campaign seeking $90,000 to support efforts to reintroduce the aquatic rodents in Southern Arizona.

That’s on top of the roughly $400,000 in state and federal grant money the group has already secured to help restore riparian habitat along Cienega Creek and elsewhere — work not specifically for the benefit of beavers but that could one day lure the “keystone species” back to the Tucson area to stay, according to conservationists.

Did you catch that? Ninety thousand dollars to bring back beavers on top of the 400,000 they spent planting willows and cottonwood to make it beaver friendly. You see how lucky Martinez was to get them for free?

Tell that to the mayor.

“They’re nature’s river engineers,” said Trevor Hare, river restoration biologist for the Watershed Management Group.

“And they’ve got the skills and the know-how to work directly in the creek,” Shipek added. “I think it’s really exciting to think about the future of river restoration partnering with a creature like the American beaver

You bet your beaver-loving sand they are. They’ll know what to do. It’s just that you need to stop killing them first, Can you do that?

Since Cienega Creek connects to the Tucson Basin by way of Pantano Wash, beavers could conceivably make their way downstream and into the city. And if there is suitable habitat to support them along Tucson’s rivers and creeks, they just might find lodging here, Hare said.

“I’m in my 50s, and I’d like to see that in my lifetime,” he said.

Bringing back the beaver is just one long-range goal for Watershed Management Group, which also promotes urban rainwater harvesting and “green street” projects aimed at conserving water, beautifying neighborhoods and improving the environment.

I’m with you. In my fifties and dreaming that one day beaver will be back to its rightful place on the landscape. In California and Arizona too. All over the west and beyond. Lets let them do what they do better than anybody in the world. And let’s just stop killing them when they try.

Deal?

I have to apologize that this story escaped my attention last week. It’s written by the CEO if Trout Unlimited Chris Jones, and appeared in the Las Vegas Press Standard. It’s the article we’ve all been waiting for and deserves far more attention than it received.

The best way to prevent wildfires

Nearly everyone agrees that Western rangelands will produce even larger and more frequent wildfires in the future. But are engineered fuel breaks the best answer?

Jack Williams, a scientist who worked for multiple federal agencies and Trout Unlimited says, “The primary culprit for larger fires in the Great Basin is cheatgrass, but warming temps compound the problem. Creating periodic firebreaks would help by breaking up and slowing down the flames. We can do that in a way that benefits the natural systems by expanding riparian and wet meadows along our small streams.”

The answer may be a small dose of much less expensive firebreaks and, surprisingly, strategies involving cows and beavers. Ranchers who fence streamside areas and/or rotate cows to rest pastures occasionally and allow streamside vegetation to grow back help re-establish natural firebreaks of lush green vegetation.

Hmm, little firebreaks along the riparian. Whatever can he mean? I just can’t put my finger on something that could help with that,

Consider the case of Susie Creek near Elko, where the Heguy family runs a large ranch. Over 25 years, they changed grazing practices so that the cows were moved more frequently, especially away from the streams. An evaluation by Trout Unlimited scientists showed riparian vegetation in the entire Susie Creek Basin increased by more than 100 acres. Equally important is that 25 years ago no beavers lived on Susie Creek; about 140 beaver dams cross the creek today, slowing runoff and keeping more water upstream.

When Trout Unlimited evaluated the effects of this type of “conservation grazing” and beaver at larger scales, across several Great Basin watersheds including Susie Creek, the increased wet streamside habitat was equivalent to the effects of adding 10 inches of annual precipitation. That’s nearly double the current precipitation at some sites — a big deal in this semi-arid desert.

The more water retained in the streams, the more drought and fire-resistant the land around it becomes, plain and simple.

Wait, is the CEO of Trout Unlimited saying what I think he’s saying?

The basic functions of a healthy watershed are to catch, store and slowly release water over time. Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, once testified before Congress by pouring a glass of water over a wooden desk and watching as it all ran on the floor. He said this represents an unhealthy watershed.

Pinchot then put the desks’s ink blotter — something designed to absorb the ink of pens — on the desk and poured another glass of water. The water absorbed into the blotter and only a few drops hit the floor. This is how a healthy watershed functions, he said.

Beaver dams are akin to Pinchot’s blotter. Their dams keep water from running off downstream. Water can then percolate into the groundwater around the stream. Green vegetation grows. Trees provide more shade and structure to the stream. Sedges begin to crawl upslope. The beaver dams facilitate late-season flows, which is good for fish — and people, too. Improved flows and wider wetland vegetation translate to strong fuel breaks from wildfire.

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Please call Governor Newsome right now and show  him this article. Heck lets call ALL the governors. And CDFG. And the current head of the forest service where the author, Chris Jones, used to work. I can’t believe this article slipped past me. I would never have seen it but that it attracted ANOTHER letter to the editor in support. This one from Charles Parish in Las Vegas.

LETTER: Commentary on beating Western wildfires was right on target

Who would have thought that removing beavers from the land and putting cows on it would encourage wildfires? But that is the crux of the excellent commentary “The best way to prevent wildfires” (Sunday Review-Journal).

Cows tend to congregate at water sources, disrupting stream banks, polluting the water and eating the surrounding vegetation needed to retain stream water over time. As the article points out, a better way to control wildfires — rather than building and maintaining many acres of expensive bulldozer roads, as the Trump administration is proposing — is to mostly keep cows away from natural streams and waterways and let beavers return to build their dams, turning the steams into greenbelts and natural firebreaks that improve the storage of water in the parts of our country that are too dry to farm without irrigation.

When will people learn that they can’t best Mother Nature and instead must work with her?

Can I get an Amen? Let’s have a rousing cheer for this letter and Chris’ original article. Now if only all this information translated into actual action in terms of important changes in the way we treat beavers. (And cows).

We are reaching critical mass. We may not be there yet but we’re well on our way.  Let’s celebrate with a wonderful photo of the beaver family from Napa by our good friend Rusty Cohn, How many family members can you count? Is it just me or doesn’t that little kit face in the front look almost like a muppet?