For Watersheds, There Is Gnaw-thing More Exciting Than Beavers

By Nathan Ward, Upper Arkansas Watershed Partnership Coordinator

A secret world exists out there in the streams, creeks and wetlands of the Upper Arkansas River Valley. A world tread by the webbed feet and fat wide tails of Castor canadensis, the majestic beaver. Once common in every waterway in the valley, beavers are still fairly common in our area even though they occupy just a small percentage of their historical habitat. Hunted almost to extinction for their thick pelts in the 1800s, primarily to make hats for far away heads, this tenacious rodent persevered in the most remote reaches of mountain creeks, quietly surviving and growing their families as the era of beaver hats ended, and trapping tapered away to almost an end. 

Photo by Ben Goldfarb

Today, beavers are back, and in a big way, as scientists and landowners are embracing their keystone role in watersheds. As local beaver expert Mark Beardsley recently stated, “Interest in beavers has come full circle, from famine to frenzy!”  Central Colorado Conservancy works to provide education about the positive watershed benefits of beavers. This summer we partnered with the Book Club Salida and local beaver whisperer Ben Goldfarb, by hosting a walking tour around a beaver complex and book discussion on Goldfarb’s award-winning tome Eager: The Secret, Surprising Lives of Beaver and Why They Matter. 

After scouting local waterways for an ideal location, on May 30th, Goldfarb led multiple groups of beaver-intrigued Conservancy and Book Club Salida members and supporters on a field tour of a local beaver complex. Located in a small creek, the complex contained all the elements that make beaver watershed magic happen - multiple cascading pools created by intricate dams, a lodge built into the river bank, a scent mound, an elevated water table, habitat for fish and other wildlife, and more. A couple of weeks prior to the tour, we set up a game camera at this site and captured great footage of beaver actively working the site, along with a host of other animals visiting the beaver scent mound at night. 

Photo by Matt Juday

After the field tour, everyone gathered at A Church to listen to a presentation by Goldfarb, see videos from the game cam, eat delicious food provided by Kalamata Pit, and discuss their favorite parts of Eager. It was a great event and we hope to replicate this event in other communities in our service area.

The Conservancy, along with our partner organizations in the Upper Arkansas Watershed Partnership (UAWP), is growing our work in support of beavers and beaver habitat. To accomplish this I have been engaging with various beaver groups throughout Colorado and across the country to learn what others are working on, laying the groundwork for future partnerships, and eventually will establish a technical team and community beaver working groups throughout the Upper Arkansas River watershed. 

Changing long-held misconceptions about a beaver being little more than a problem rodent child will take time, but like Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a changin”. Our work will focus initially on education, coexistence and conflict mitigation with the simple goal of keeping more beaver on the local landscape. It’s an exciting time to be doing this work and new beaver policy and conservation policies are being developed statewide as you read this. 

To learn more about our upcoming work to promote and protect beaver, or to join a mailing list about beaver opportunities as we move forward, please email me at nathan@centralcoloradoconservancy.org. For more information about the State of Colorado’s development of a Beaver Conservation and Management Strategy, please visit: https://engagecpw.org/beaver-conservation-and-management-strategy.