The wildlife trust in Kent England is leading the way again, and showing us how it’s done.

There’s another round on Maria Finn’s excellent article on beavers and salmon, this one from The Ecologist.

Beavers are saving California’s wild salmon

With California’s wild Coho salmon populations down to 1% of their former numbers, there’s growing evidence that beavers – long reviled as a pest of the waterways – are essential to restore the species, writes Maria Finn. In the process, they raise water tables, recharge aquifers and improve water quality. What’s not to love?

Beavers are the single most important factor in determining whether Coho salmon persist in California. They work night and day, don’t need to be paid, and are incredible engineers.

Beavers, which were almost hunted to extinction in California during the 1800s, can help restore this watery habitat, especially in drought conditions. Fishery experts once believed the animals’ dams blocked salmon from returning to their streams, so it was common practice to rip them out.

 But, consistent with previous studies, research led by Michael M. Pollock, an ecosystems analyst with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows the opposite: wild salmon are adept at crossing the beavers’ blockages.

 In addition, the dams often reduce the downstream transport of egg-suffocating silt to the gravel where salmon spawn, and create deeper, cooler water for juvenile fish and adult salmon and steelhead. The resulting wetlands also attract more insects for salmon to eat.

 In ongoing research that covered six years, Pollock and his colleagues showed that river restoration projects that featured beaver dams more than doubled their production of salmon.

 Can the animals help bring back the Coho salmon? “Absolutely”, Pollock says. “They may be the only thing that can.”

Ahhh admit it, don’t you sometimes want to MARRY Michael Pollock? He’s the best friend beavers ever had. And I should know. Thanks Michael! And thanks Maria for your excellent article. I hope a few more spots pick it up before long.

Rusty from Napa mentioned the other day that he hoped I said more about the beaver conference. Well he’s in luck, because here’s my interview on the topic from Michael Howie from Fur-bearer Defenders Radio. I wasn’t as brilliant as I had every intention of being, but the conference was a lot of dazzling information and I was/am still percolating and putting things together.

And saving the best for last, guess what we saw with our own dam eyes last night? I’ll give you a hint, they had flat tails and little ears. 3 tails and six ears to be precise. Dad, Mom, and baby all side by side and happy as you please living in the same bank hole and coming out around 7 in the evening. Since we have been down several times during the winter and seen nothing but our dashed hopes, we were understandably elated. I came right home and started watching this, from our friend Willy De Koning the Netherlands.

You need your sound UP for this because it captures our mood perfectly!