Yesterday KATU in Portland aired a new special on the  many tools being used to help prevent wildfires in the west. Guess what one was?

‘Wildfire Season: Prepare & Protect’ KATU preparing you for the upcoming wildfireseason

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — KATU News is ‘On Your Side,’ helping you prepare before a wildfire threatens your health, life, or home.

In KATU’s half-hour special called ‘Wildfire Season: Prepare & Protect,’ we’ll show you how to make the area around your home more fire-safe and how to build ‘defensible space.”

We will show you how some utility companies in the West are trying to stop power lines from sparking an inferno, and even how Oregon’s state animal, the beaver, can help make wilderness areas less prone to wildfires.

It’s been such a nice spring with mild tempertures and lots of rain. But it won’t last forever. Thank goodness we have helpers.

Beavers, Natures Firefighters:

Scientists are turning to an unusual ally when it comes to fighting wildfires, Oregon’s state animal, the beaver.

Beavers on the hunt for wood for their dams create new channels of water from rivers that become new wetlands. Satellite imagery studied by the University of Minnesota showed wetland beaver habitat was less likely to burn in a wildfire, and in some cases, was almost completely spared. “It is kind of a mess and it’s wonderful. You know it is a great big sponge that is not going to burn,” says Audrey Taub, executive director of the San Luis Obispo Beaver Brigade.

In 2023, Oregon lawmakers passed the “Beaver Believer Bill” which allows the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to manage beavers on private land.

Alright then, Beavers to the rescue! I’m guessing no one has commented about how the thing you’re hoping saves your butt is the same thing you let recreational trappers take from public lands. But sure, its a start I guess.