Want to Solve Wildfires and Drought? Leave it to BEAVERS!

[BeckyDem]

&t=2s

Beavers offer lessons about managing water in a changing climate, whether the challenge is drought or floods

January 20, 2022

It’s no accident that both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology claim the beaver (Castor canadensis) as their mascots. Renowned engineers, beavers seem able to dam any stream, building structures with logs and mud that can flood large areas.

As climate change causes extreme storms in some areas and intense drought in others, scientists are finding that beavers’ small-scale natural interventions are valuable. In dry areas, beaver ponds restore moisture to the soil; in wet zones, their dams and ponds can help to slow floodwaters. These ecological services are so useful that land managers are translocating beavers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom to help restore ecosystems and make them more resilient to climate change.

Scientists estimate that hundreds of millions of beavers once dammed waterways across the Northern Hemisphere. They were hunted nearly to extinction for their fur in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe and North America but are making comebacks today in many areas. As a geoscientist specializing in water resources, I think it’s important to understand how helpful beavers can be in the right places and to find ways for humans to coexist with them in developed areas.

https://theconversation.com/beavers-offer-lessons-about-managing-water-in-a-changing-climate-whether-the-challenge-is-drought-or-floods-168545



( I mean come on, they're so cute too. )

[CrispyQ]

1. I've watched a couple of documentaries on these industrious critters.

We spotted a dam of branches & twigs in a creek once & stayed awhile & sure enough, along came a beaver.

[BeckyDem]

2. That is so cool and fun!

[SWBTATTReg]

3. And these guys (the beavers) are excellent in restoring stream habitat too. I forget, but there was

a documentary on either PBS or so, and it documented the arrival of beavers (inserted by wildlife authorities) into a desolate part of a river, and the transformation was unbelievable. The water flow was better, the quality of the water was better, the wildlife attracted to the reformed river was amazing. There was another series too, on allowing wolves too into areas to prevent elk and deer from eating all of the tree growth around streams, and thus, causing depopulating issues due to lack of growth/river habitat due to overeating by deer, etc.

[BeckyDem]

4. +1

They're a huge benefit. I recently watched a documentary on deer...they can digest approx. 600 different species of plant life, and if necessary can get by on poison ivy. Beavers to the rescue!