Waiting on a mule deer crossing…
Beaver can be important regulators of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, with effects far beyond their food and space requirements'. Beaver have the potential to modify stream morphology and hydrology by cutting significant amounts of wood and building dams. This in turn influences a variety of biological responses within and adjacent to stream channels. Historically, beaver have been key agents of riparian succession and ecology throughout North America. They can naturally transform pioneer woody vegetation into physical features that result in the expansion of floodplains, riparian community structure, diversity, and productivity’. The predominance of beaver in the Pacific Northwest drew many early trappers and explorers to this part of the country. By 1900, unregulated exploitation left beaver almost extinct. Their removal, by extensive trapping, resulted in incised channels, loss of riparian and wetland areas, and loss of channel complexity critical to fish and invertebrate production. The beaver population in the U.S. has been reduced from a pre-European estimate of 60-400 million to a current level of 6-12 million’. As the role of beaver in managing and maintaining stream and riparian ecosystems has gained recognition, interest in the potential for reintroducing beaver to recover stream and riparian function in degraded ecosystems has grown. Beaver have been successfully transplanted into many watersheds throughout the United States during the past 50 years. This practice was very common during the 1950s after biologists realized the loss of ecological function resulting from over-trapping of beaver by fur traders before the turn of the century. Reintroduction has restored the beaver populations in some areas, but many areas are still devoid of beavers. For example, a
Knowledge graph centered on Beaver Re-introduction with 24 nodes and 63 connections. Top connected: U.S. Forest Service (Taylor River District), Salix lucida subsp. lasiandra, Bacteria, Populus angustifolia, Populus.
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