Every now and then a beaver report emerges that is SO exactly what we need right now and SUCH very good news that I am torn between waving my beaver pompoms and cheering madly in the bleachers and stamping my foot in anger shouting SEE? IS THIS ENOUGH? Do you believe me now? Will you stop killing them now?

For the sake of brevity I’ll just do the first for now.

Beaver Dams Help Wildfire-Ravaged Ecosystems Recover Long after Flames Subside

Dams mop up debris that would otherwise kill fish and other downstream wildlife, new observations suggest

Oregon endured the third-largest wildfire in its recorded history last summer. The Bootleg Fire tore through the Upper Klamath Basin, an ecologically sensitive area that is home to multiple threatened and endangered species including the northern spotted owl and two fish—the koptu and c’waam (shortnose sucker and Lost River sucker)—that are culturally vital to the area’s Klamath Tribes. The fire left behind a charred landscape more than twice the size of New York City.

After the local fire season ended in autumn, Bill Tinniswood, a fisheries biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, went out to survey the damage. Ash from the fire, which burned for more than a month, had clogged formerly pristine tributaries and turned them into black slurries. Thriving trout populations had disappeared, presumably choked to death by waterborne debris particles that deprived the fish of oxygen. “I was in total shock,” Tinniswood said. “It just looked like devastation.” (more…)