VIDEO: Beavers ‘do it better’: King County is updating its approach to habitat restoration to capitalize on the unique talents of recovering wildlife

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King County salmon habitat restoration managers are adapting their work along rivers and streams to account for the transformational changes in landscapes made by beavers as their population recovers and repopulates wetlands and waterways.

The county’s Planning for Beavers Manual says ecologists and engineers should now assume that beavers will inhabit their restoration sites and that beaver activities should be anticipated in each step of the project design. Experts say the new approach will better capitalize on beavers’ unique ability to promote biodiversity and improve water quality.

"We know from experience, research, and practice that we’re most effective at restoring habitat when we work with nature and not against it,” said Senior Ecologist Jennifer Vanderhoof, who developed the manual for King County’s Water and Land Resources Division. “Rather than viewing the remarkable recovery of our local beaver population as a nuisance to manage, we now understand they can help us build a healthier, more resilient landscape for the benefit of people, salmon, and wildlife.”

Beaver populations have steadily increased across Western Washington since 2000, when voter-approved restrictions on body-gripping traps made it more expensive and more difficult to trap beavers. Fur prices plummeted at the same time, and the result was a 75% decrease in statewide fur trapping.

Vanderhoof says the dramatic drop in beaver-trapping activity coincided with the 1999 listing of Puget Sound chinook salmon as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act, which led to a rapid and widespread increase in salmon habitat restoration projects on rivers and streams throughout the region. The combination of fewer trappings and access to more quality habitat contributed to beavers’ strong recovery.

Habitat restoration work for salmon in King County often includes carving new stream channels, adding wood, trees, and shrubs to help increase the complexity of a stream and open entire new areas for fish – which is exactly the kind of work that beavers do.

Beavers add resiliency to habitats that are under stress from climate change. Their dams store water and slow downstream flows, reducing the erosive forces of heavy rain events that are occurring more often due to climate change. Their ponds provide habitat for a wide range of native fish and wildlife species, recharge local groundwater supplies, and may even act as natural firebreaks.

Although the growing beaver population is beneficial to aquatic habitats, beaver dams can also sometimes flood roads and farms, though the impacts can often be avoided. By combining scientific knowledge about beavers, landscapes, and streams, ecologists can find places and design projects that allow beaver activity while minimizing impact on nearby residents.

“This manual is our first coordinated response to the expanding beaver population,” said Vanderhoof. “We want to increase fish and wildlife habitat project success, decrease impacts to adjacent landowners and infrastructure, and help project managers better budget and plan for constructing and maintaining habitat restoration work with beavers in mind.” 

The next version of the manual – currently under development – will provide directions on how to accommodate beavers during the permitting process and recommend overplanting, anticipating some loss to beaver activity. The goal, Vanderhoof says, is to recognize that beavers can contribute to better water quality and healthier habitat if human activity works with them and natural systems rather than against it as it did for more than 150 years.

“We’ve gone from tolerating them at best to, ‘Oh yeah, they provide some benefits,’ to ‘They provide benefits, period. We need them, period,’” said Vanderhoof. “How can we do whatever it is we’re going to do in a way that will enable beavers to do their best work because they do it better than we’ll ever do it.” 

Water and Land Resources is one of four divisions at the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, one of the nation’s largest metropolitan natural resource agencies.  

“Restoring critical salmon habitat requires ingenuity and adaptability – and our employees, like the beavers, demonstrate both,” said John Taylor, Director of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. “The new restoration manual is more than a tactical roadmap. It’s a testament to our staff’s commitment to work with wildlife and people to restore natural systems.”

Multimedia

• VIDEO: Modernizing our approach to beavers
• VIDEO: 60-second teaser version of video
• PHOTO GALLERY: Modernizing our approach to beavers
• TRACKS: An interactive map of environmental stewardship in King County

Resources

• King County’s Planning for Beavers Manual: Anticipating Beavers when Designing Restoration Projects
• Beavers in King County
• Clean Water Healthy Habitat

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