Rivers and streams, when fully connected to their floodplains, are naturally resilient systems that are increasingly part of the conversation on nature-based climate solutions. Reconnecting waterways to their floodplains improves water quality and quantity, supports biodiversity and sensitive species conservation, increases flood, drought and fire resiliency, and bolsters carbon sequestration. But, while the importance of river restoration is clear, beaver-based restoration—for example, strategic coexistence, relocation, and mimicry—remains an underutilized strategy despite ample data demonstrating its efficacy. Climate-driven disturbances are actively pushing streams into increasingly degraded states, and the window of opportunity for restoration will not stay open forever. Therefore, now is the perfect time to apply the science of beaver-based low-tech process-based stream restoration to support building climate resilience across the landscape. Not every stream will be a good candidate for beaver-based restoration, but we have the tools to know which ones are. Let us use them.

Don’t forget the useful tool of GETTING OUT OFF THEIR WAY and letting them decide things for us. People are always underestimating that tool as well.

It may seem trite to say that beavers are a key part of a national climate action plan, but the reality is that they are a force of 15–40 million (Naiman et al., 1988) highly skilled environmental engineers. We cannot afford to work against them any longer; we need to work with them. In most cases, the first step will be starting the physical restoration process before beavers move into a system—setting the stage for functioning floodplain processes (flow, space, structure; Beechie et al., 2010, Cluer & Thorne, 2014, Wheaton et al., 2019). Human intervention may be necessary to restore severely impacted floodplain processes to the point at which beavers and beaver mimicry can be applied (e.g., deeply incised channels, ongoing disruptive land-use practices). In other situations, our first step may be policy changes: for example, if floodplains are intact, but beaver management actions (e.g., the lethal removal of beavers that impact the built environment) prevent population persistence sufficient to further recover these landscapes. Regardless of our role in the conversation, beaver inspired or implemented process-based restoration should be a primary strategy to achieving healthy riverscapes (Macfarlane et al., 2015; Pollock et al., 2015). A stream where beavers thrive is a resilient, productive stream (Pollock et al., 2014). Flourishing beaver populations can be our partner in combating climate change and a bellwether of our progress.

4.5 Ecosystem services

Should we entrust a large rodent with such critical environmental engineering tasks? If restoring riverscapes is really such an important piece of our national climate action plan, should not we do it ourselves? Ultimately, the scale of changes that need to occur are beyond what we can accomplish and maintain on our own. However, beaver-based riverscape restoration has a high return on investment in both revenue and expense control (Baldwin, 2015; Blackfeet Nation, 2018; Blackfeet Nation & Levitus, 2019; Pollock et al., 2015; S. Thompson et al., 2021; Wheaton et al., 2019). Revenue generation typically results from increased tourism and outdoor recreation (e.g., hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, wildlife viewing), while expense reduction from lower expenditures in disaster mitigation, carbon management, water quality assurance, and water conservation. These ecosystem services by beaver, as well as many others not discussed in detail here, is estimated at $69,000 per square kilometer, per year (S. Thompson et al., 2021). Secondary economic benefits of utilizing beaver coexistence and beaver mimicry in riverscape restoration would help offset the already low cost of implementing beaver mimicry and managing human–beaver conflict (Boyles & Savitzky, 2009)

Beavers do it cheaper. Beavers do it Better. Get Outta their way.