After seeing how beavers helped Birch Creek flow again, Idaho rancher Jay Wilde has inspired hundreds of people to try beaver-assisted stream restoration.
Thirteen years ago, Idaho rancher Jay Wilde sat in his kitchen sipping coffee before dawn. As the caffeine kicked in, he was once again pondering why the stream running through his ranch had stopped flowing.
It suddenly hit him: “Beavers! That’s what’s missing.”
When Wilde was growing up on the ranch, Birch Creek had flowed year-round. He used to spend summers fishing for trout and swimming in the ponds created by beaver dams. But Wilde hadn’t seen beavers or their dams since 1995, when he moved back to take over the ranch from his parents.
“I began researching the role of beaver, and learned that for a watershed to be healthy, there needs to be beavers there,” says Wilde.
Beavers are some of nature’s best engineers. They gnaw down trees to create intricate dams and lodges as their shelter. In turn, their dams act to slow the flow of a stream, creating ponds that act like a piggy-bank that stores water for the ecosystem.
Beaver-created ponds help recharge the floodplain and raise the groundwater level. This allows water to trickle downstream long after snowmelt and rain taper off. Plus, these ponds provide an incredible diversity of habitat for fish,
birds, and all sorts of other wildlife.
How Beavers Boost Stream Flows • The National Wildlife Federation Blog
Thirteen years ago, Idaho rancher Jay Wilde sat in his kitchen sipping coffee before dawn. As the caffeine kicked in, he was once again pondering why the stream running through his ranch had stopped flowing.
It suddenly hit him: “Beavers! That’s what’s missing.”
When Wilde was growing up on the ranch, Birch Creek had flowed year-round. He used to spend summers fishing for trout and swimming in the ponds created by beaver dams. But Wilde hadn’t seen beavers or their dams since 1995, when he moved back to take over the ranch from his parents.
“I began researching the role of beaver, and learned that for a watershed to be healthy, there needs to be beavers there,” says Wilde.
Beavers are some of nature’s best engineers. They gnaw down trees to create intricate dams and lodges as their shelter. In turn, their dams act to slow the flow of a stream, creating ponds that act like a piggy-bank that stores water for the ecosystem.
Beaver-created ponds help recharge the floodplain and raise the groundwater level. This allows water to trickle downstream long after snowmelt and rain taper off. Plus, these ponds provide an incredible diversity of habitat for fish,
birds, and all sorts of other wildlife.
How Beavers Boost Stream Flows • The National Wildlife Federation Blog