Raise your hand if you had MONTANA on your Beaver Bingo card. I can’t remember the last time they were the model the rest of us needed to follow.
Program to reduce conflicts with beavers keeping nature’s ‘engineers’ on the job
Beavers are, by definition, rodents. That classification, though, might not do justice to the semiaquatic creatures, often called “ecosystem engineers” by biologists. In Montana, for instance and according to the National Wildlife Federation, beavers create wetlands that support more than 80% of the state’s wildlife..
For decades, problematic beavers that created dams in inconvenient places for humans were trapped and relocated — or worse. But removing one of these engineers from the landscape was never a long-term fix. Soon, another beaver would come along and rebuild. Elissa Chott, the National Wildlife Federation’s Montana Beaver Conflict Resolution Program team lead, said building dams is a natural instinct that beavers cannot simply turn off.
“A roadway over a creek or a ditch is really just a dam in the eyes of a beaver. And a culvert under that roadway is a hole in that dam,” she said. “So the beaver’s instinct is to just plug that hole.”
About a decade ago, several stakeholders in western Montana came together to discuss issues related to beavers. Beaver dams occasionally wreaked havoc on roadways and property, but those involved, including Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, recognized the animals’ importance to the landscape.
So it starts with just one person and it steam rolls into many many people. That’s what we hope for.
Torrey Ritter, a wildlife biologist for FWP, said beavers have played a role in shaping the landscape since long before European settlers arrived in the region. The dams they build direct waterways, replenish groundwater and create wetlands vital to wildlife. Ritter said that one beaver family (which can include just a pair of beavers and their children, and go up to 10 or 20 in some cases) can help develop an entire ecosystem by constructing and maintaining more than 20 dams in an area.
In 2019, the National Wildlife Federation launched a pilot project to reduce the impact of beaver dams on humans. Chott said the project replicated those found elsewhere in the country, particularly on the East Coast and in Washington and Oregon. Some efforts are as simple as wrapping a tree with galvanized wire fencing to prevent a beaver from chewing down the tree and using it as dam-building material. Other efforts involve installing fences around culverts. Chott said that beavers are attracted to the sound of moving water, so if they can be kept away from that sound, they’ll take their dam construction elsewhere. Sometimes, building fences just a few feet out is enough to be effective.
It starts with a dream, a conversation. A vision. And it ends with a pilot project that covers several cities and is no longer a pilot.
Perhaps the most intricate type of installation is a pond leveler. A pond leveler involves installing a high-density polyethylene pipe through the center of a free-standing beaver dam, allowing water to pass quietly. The water level will then drain to the height of the pipe, but the beaver won’t notice that not all the water is being held back.
“We kind of use their little quirks against them,” Chott said.
Since the project began in Montana, there have been nearly 100 installations, Chott said. The project’s coverage area has also grown, generally following the various FWP regions. In the early years, Chott was the only beaver conflict prevention specialist serving Missoula and the surrounding region. In 2024, the program added seasonal specialists in Bozeman and Great Falls, and this year, one was added in Kalispell.
Chott said the program’s services have been utilized by private landowners as well as state and federal agencies. The program, which is funded by the National Wildlife Federation and some federal grants, typically covers half the cost of materials, with landowners asked to pay the remainder. The program also covers the labor required to install solutions, whether a tree wrap or a pond leveler.
Ritter said the program has been successful because it lets FWP focus on other wildlife issues and allows the beavers to play their natural role in the landscape.
“One of the really cool things about this program is that we can keep these ecosystem engineers working,” he said. For more information about the Montana Beaver Conflict Resolution Program, call its hotline at (406) 393-5557.
Keep the engineers on the field and let them do the good work you want to see. The stone that was rejected has become the corner stone.
Keystone.
Interning in Conflict Resolution: How do we co-exist with our wildlife neighbors
The same behaviors, such as felling trees and flooding sections of streams, that have huge ecological benefits can also conflict with the goals of landowners by threatening public safety and livelihoods. Without effective means of addressing these conflicts, landowners may perceive beaver presence as a threat and choose to lethally trap beavers to prevent future damage, even in cases where no current damage is occurring.
To gain the benefits of beaver activities throughout our watersheds, the National Wildlife Federation and the Clark Fork Coalition have partnered to support a pilot project focused on resolving these conflicts. As a Conflict Resolution Intern with the National Wildlife Federation, I was able to support the newly hired Conflict Resolution Beaver Tech, Elissa Chott, in a pilot project to build more acceptance for these crucial ecosystem engineers by effectively resolving the conflicts between their activities and the values of landowners.
These simple tools use our knowledge of beaver behavior to deter their activities in specific places where those activities are undesirable. Beaver deceivers, for example, enclose a drainage source for flooded ponds such that beavers cannot feel nor hear the running water. Without this sensory stimulus of a leak, the pond can be drained to a tolerable height without the beavers responding with additional damming activity.
Beaver dams hold water and recharge aquifers. They slow down water in small streams, which in turn reduces erosion, improves water quality, and helps expand riparian areas. Their ponds create diverse habitat to support fish, birds, amphibians, and mammals. As Montana and the West face a hotter and drier future, more beavers on our landscapes may be just what we need.
