I really don’t know anyone who’s going to be surprised by this, but okay, if you say its unexpected I guess its true. Maja Holmquist must be new to the beaver beat. I thought NWF was up on these things by now.
Beavers and Salmon: An Unexpected Alliance
According to a recent analysis done by the Nez Perce Tribe, Chinook salmon and steelhead populations are nearing extinction and need all the help they can get.
Why are these salmon so at risk?
Climate change is causing rises in air and water temperatures, increased winter flooding, less (and warmer) water in the summer and fall. None of these things bode well for cold-water fish, Northwest salmon and steelhead populations, in particular. Most salmon species become vulnerable in waters with temperatures 68 degrees and higher. Waters like those in the West’s Columbia River Basin are repeatedly rising past this temperature threshold. Additionally, increased floods during the winter months wash away spawning beds, taking salmon eggs with them.
Things are so dire California is driving salmon around in trucks. BOTH WAYS.
But what if there was an unlikely ally to help us help salmon?
Enter: the beaver. Yes, the beaver. Two studies done on Central Oregon’s Bridge Creek examined the question: Does the presence of beavers improve habitat for juvenile salmon and steelhead?
Seriously, These studies are five years old. Why are you writing this like we are going to be reading the exciting end of a romance novel under the covers with a flashlight at midnight? This isn’t news. We know that beavers help salmon. We’ve known it for 20 years now and I’m sure our ancestors knew it before that. Why the intrigue?
Without beavers, streams have become eroded and incised, meaning they cut deep channels into the landscape. These channels disconnect the stream from its floodplain, disrupting the flow of water, nutrients, and, importantly for salmon, habitat. The areas around these streams shift from thriving, diverse wetlands with pools and floodplains surrounded by trees and shrubs—to dry grasslands made up of only a few species. As seen in many areas implementing beaver mimicry, including areas of salmon habitat on Bridge Creek, the implementation of beaver dams and BDAs mitigate those effects.
Uh huh. And did you know the moon makes gravity too?
Pacific salmon and steelhead are in trouble. Effects of climate change and human development have put these species on the brink of extinction. We need to examine and explore every option available to save these important, iconic, and impressive species. Although here we only reference two published studies done so far on connections between beavers, beaver dam analogues, and these fish species, beaver-related restoration as a tool in salmon recovery is already being implemented in California and Oregon.
But salmon and beaver lived together for centuries before European influence changed the landscape of the West. Generation after generation of salmon made their journey from beaver-inhabited rivers and streams to the ocean and back to those same beaver-inhabited rivers and streams. Salmon and beaver coexisted, even thrived together.
Could they again?
This is such a weird tone for this article to take. Could the sun continue to rise in the east? Could the earth be actually round? Could the rain continue to fall from the sky?
Sara Bates from NWF explains that Maja is an intern and prepared this for a class assignment. Okay. I’ll stop being snarky. Right after I post this video.
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