After decades of being treated as a marine nuisance, beavers “could help ease the water woes” that pit farmers against fishermen in California, says the magazine onEarth. The ongoing drought has cut the supply of irrigation water to growers and reduced stream flows, leading to high mortality rates for young salmon. The fish need “cold, slow water and protective covering,” and “Beavers … can help restore this watery habitat, especially in drought conditions,” says the story by Maria Finn. Their dams trap silt that would smother salmon eggs, offer cool water for juvenile salmon, and create wetlands that draw insects that are part of the salmon’s diet.
Will Harling, executive director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, says “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.” California game officials say beavers don’t fit into the network of irrigation canals and dams in the Central Valley, however. The story was developed in partnership with the FERN.