Beavers

Having a proactive statewide management plan, advocates said, can help educate the public about the importance of sustaining beaver populations, outline goals for their recovery, and help foster coexistence with communities.

Increasingly destructive wildfires are a major issue in the American West. However, some researchers say that land managers have an unlikely ally in their efforts to confront the crisis: the beaver.

Beavers are often seen as pests, but recent research in Idaho suggests they play an important role in helping forests rebound from wildfire by creating “refugia” for plants and animals.

New research shows that “beaver-modified riverscapes” are very resilient to the effects of large wildfires. After burns, the refuge they provide to flora and fauna can also aid in post-fire recovery. That’s why the researchers involved argue that beavers “can be part of a comprehensive fire-mitigation strategy.”

New technology will monitor vegetation and water where beavers are reintroduced.

Scientists say beavers and their handiwork could be helpful tools in fending off the worst effects of climate change.

Beavers create messy wetlands as safe places to live, and a new paper explains how their engineering is also a powerful tool in fending off the harms of climate change. Their dams, channels and ponds have positive side effects that reduce the damage caused by flood, drought and wildfire.

We take a backyard safari to find an animal that has managed to adapt to rapid human growth — the beaver — and to learn about dozens of species thriving in our own backyards.

Earlier this year, we told you the story of Idaho Fish and Game parachuting beavers into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in the late…