The other day I was contacted by an ecologist in Wyoming who was interested in the beavers and climate change movie project by Sarah Koenisberg. He wanted to see it completed so it could be released in a couple of venues he was interested in. He was considering ways to make that happen and wanted my opinion since I was in the film. I agreed that it should be done and encouraged him to move funds in that direction. Them I poked about to look up the work he was referring to. My search brought me to this article from the Wyoming Wetland Society out of Jackson Hole whose primary interest is in Trumpeter Swan restoration, But of course that makes them very good friends of the beaver on whose lodges the swans love to nest. I’m not sure I reviewed back in 2014 back when it  this out because I don’t always catch blog posts, but I know it will interest you too.

The Rancher Who Wished for a Beaver

“They’re really beneficial, to get the shrubs in, get the water up.”

IClyde Woolery, a rancher near Kinnear, Wyoming, wishes he had more beavers. n 2011, he called the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and asked if they could live trap a beaver and transplant it to his ranch.

Bill Long, the program director of Wyoming Wetlands Society, says that beavers can establish new wetlands and make existing wetlands work better. “Cleaner, colder water comes out of beaver dams,” he says. “They’re a keystone species.” Beaver dams raise the water table and increase water quality by slowing down the flow and filtering the water, Long says. That helps establish willows and other shrubs, which are good habitat and browsing for animals including livestock.

After all, “it’s been said many times before, they’re nature’s engineer.” He says wetlands benefit ecosystem health and even boost biodiversity. “They’re doing good things. Whether it be for cutthroat trout or for cattle, they’re good for the system.”

When a landowner has a problem beaver, Long’s group live traps it and moves it to public land, usually national forests. Wyoming Wetlands Society has been moving dozens of beavers each year since 2004. Game and Fish reacts to isolated phone calls, also moving troublesome beavers to public and sometimes private lands.

And, meanwhile, ranchers like Clyde Woolery wish for a beaver. In a state looking for ways to store water in an arid landscape, beavers could help. A program for landowners to request beavers could be one step toward healthier wetlands for people, livestock, fish, and ecosystems.

Woolery believes he’s not alone in his dreams of bringing beavers back to his ranch. If Game and Fish streamlined a way for landowners to get on a beaver request list, Woolery thinks there would be demand. He says Game and Fish agreed to bring him a beaver once he could get willow established closer to his creek. “The coyotes get them, if they have to go too far for willow,” Woolery explains. He’s on beaver hold until then.

I”m pretty excited about anyone whom appreciates the value beavers add to the land, and I hope Clive gets his beaver and tells all his friends how important they are.  I wish it the article was clearer about the idea of moving family units instead of individual beaver being more successful. Also in Wyoming I’m sure you have to give beavers some kind of safe cover initially so they don’t get eaten! Let’s hope they had lots and lots of meaningful conversations with the Methow folks, shall we?

In the meantime we can all support the idea that this fine film will one day get finished and be presented at the wetlands conference next year. I for one would LOVE to see the finished product. I can’t embed the trailer here, but go to Sarah’s site to watch the trailer if you need your memory jogged.