California beavers leading the way in state environmental efforts

As dusk began to settle over downtown Napa, a fuzzy brown creature began swimming out from under a large log tucked into the embankment of Napa Creek, followed by another and then another. The beaver colony of downtown Napa was making its daily sojourn and spectators along the creek’s edge strained for a peek. 

“We’re in the world famous Napa Valley, city of Napa, wine country,” said Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. ”But it’s also beaver country, so you get your Beaujolais and your beaver in a combination there.” 

Napa’s longtime alliance with its beaver colony, which constructed and maintains a dam beneath the Pearl Street Bridge in the center of downtown, reflects the recent statewide embrace of beavers and the collateral benefits of their dams. 

Because beavers are aquatic creatures, they construct dams to create deeper pools of water where they can swim, forage and hide from predators. Dolman, whose center launched the Bring Back the Beaver Campaign, said beaver dams are now recognized for creating habitat for other creatures like endangered salmon, inundating wetlands that resist fire, and storing water for times of drought. 

“When they make their habitat, their homes, it just turns out that it’s like an apartment complex,” said Dolman, “and everyone else who needs water moves into the apartment.”  

The many benefits of beavers and their dams have trickled upward to California officials; last year Governor Gavin Newsom dedicated money to create a beaver restoration program within the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 

The program is aimed at protecting existing beaver colonies, as well as relocating those causing issues to other areas where they can be beneficial. Last week, members of the Bring Back the Beaver Campaign met with tribal organizations to plot the first two pilot relocations. 

“Our Bring Back the Beaver Campaign is encouraging people to create a culture of beaver stewardship across the state,” said Kate Lundquist of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center.

At Napa Creek, Dolman climbed through the forest of cattails and willow branches until he was perched on the beavers’ dam, picking at the building materials of sticks to show the fresh chew marks. He pointed out clumps of algae as well as rocks hauled in by the busy beavers to fortify the structure. 

“They’re both carpenters but they’re also kind of masons,” Dolman said. 

In California, where beavers were once trapped into near extinction and considered nuisances, they’re now being framed as potential land stewards, saviors in a time of tumultuous weather swings. The state is now looking for ways to harness their unique skills as tools in dealing with the impacts of climate change. The California Natural Resource Agency recently even included beavers in its climate smart strategy. 

“In places where we’re trying to restore wetlands, meadows, salmon streams, riparian range lands,” said Lindquist, “we can actually partner with the beaver to accelerate the pace of that restoration.” 

It’s not to say these toothy workers aren’t without their issues — beavers are known to cause issues by plugging culverts, felling trees and causing flooding by their damming. 

“There are some places where it’s really all efforts to coexist have been exhausted,” said Lundquist. “In those cases we don’t want to kill those beavers, we’d like to put them to use somewhere else.” 

Dolman added the busy rodents also ply their services for free and beyond the red tape of permits. 

In Napa Creek, the trio of young beavers put on a show for those gathered on the sidewalks and in the parking lot abutting the creek, swimming in and out of their lodge, strutting up the hillside to pull down willow branches which they dragged back to the water to chew. Dolman followed the scene through a pair of powerful binoculars. 

“Willow leaf salad for dinner in downtown Napa,” he whispered. “It’s like the perfect Slow Food.”