Just released: Beaver Life History and Ecology Best Science Paper

Greetings,

First of all, we know these are strange and uncertain times for everyone. We sincerely hope you and your loved ones, friends, and co-workers are safe and doing well. Please don't be afraid to ask others for help or offer help if you are able. For more resources, you can visit King County's COVID-19 website.

Today we are very pleased and excited to announce the release of our Beaver Management Technical Paper #3: Beaver Life History and Ecology Best Science Review. To the best of our ability, and with large thanks to our librarian, we originally sourced almost everything cited in this paper. The ability to do that helps reduce mistakes in interpretation. That said, something of this scale can always be improved on. Feel free to get in touch (jennifer.vanderhoof@kingcounty.gov) if you think you see something in error or if you know of some additional works that I should cite. Or if you just want to say hello.

It is a fitting coincidence that we are releasing this paper on the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. Read to the bottom of this newsletter for a special section on why beavers are Earth Day Champions.

As a reminder, as we release new products, we will send email updates from kingcountywlrd@subscriptions.kingcounty.gov to let you know about them. Please add this address to your contacts to ensure delivery. Feel free to forward this email so others can opt in to the email list from our home page. If you do not wish to receive these emails, you can opt out below.

Cheers!

Jen Vanderhoof and the King County Beaver Working Group

Good Neighbor workshops

Last fall, we held two "Good Neighbor" workshops. The purpose was to hear from people living next to County-owned lands what it means to them for the County to be a good neighbor when it comes to beavers. The workshops were well attended and much input was received. We are still working to collate all the feedback and ideas, summarize it all, and then include it in recommendations for new policies and programs. As we develop materials, we will post them to our Good Neighbor web page.

Two beaver info-graphics and a poster

We have developed some graphics you might find useful.

• Post-contact history of beaver management in Washington State (PDF). Did you ever stop to think that beavers were almost completely gone by the time of European colonization of this area? This graphic lays out the timeline.
• Yearly cycle of western Washington beavers (PDF). If you are curious what beavers are doing when, this graphic can help. Just keep in mind they don't always abide by the rules.
• How beaver ponds interact with the hydrologic cycle (PDF). This poster portrays the hydrologic cycle with beaver ponds and shows how these ponds help recharge groundwater and raise water tables.

As always, please visit kingcounty.gov/beavers for information on beaver life history, benefits of beavers, problems and solutions, FAQs, and resources. As we release new things, we always post them to the BWG page.

Beavers are Earth Day Champions

In the spirit of Earth Day, which began 50 years ago today, it seems appropriate to look at some of the environmental benefits that beavers provide. But first, here is a bit of history from Earthday.org: The initial "Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans — at the time, 10% of the total population of the United States — to [join together to fight] against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife." On this day 50 years later, while we are doing our best to stay safe and healthy from a distance, the aquatic rodents continue to do their important work on behalf of the Earth. Though beavers can sometimes cause problems for our infrastructure, their activities can do a good job at mitigating some of these environmental damages that the first Earth Day was organized to speak out against.

An incredible example of beavers preventing significant environmental harm from an oil spill comes from Utah in 2013. An area of the Great Salt Lake was saved from an oil spill when a beaver dam kept 27,000 gallons of crude oil from spilling into the bay at Willard Bay State Park. Beavers were hailed locally as unlikely heroes.

Beaver ponds are also well documented at capturing pollutants in their sediments. Water leaving beaver ponds is cleaner than water flowing into them, as they remove excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticides, among other contaminants. In Gresham, Oregon, people examined the filtering effects of beaver dams built at a stormwater treatment facility and found the ponds with beaver dams filtered out far more pollutants than those without – even metals!

Beaver ponds are also known to be biodiversity hotspots and help address loss of wilderness and wildlife extinction. In fact, beaver-formed wetlands contribute to higher levels of biodiversity than non-beaver-formed wetlands. Birds, mammals, fish, and invertebrates thrive in beaver ponds. As beavers recolonize areas, ducks and songbirds, hawks and herons, otters, weasels, muskrats, frogs, salamanders, anadromous salmon, resident fish, and a host of insects have new places to feed and live and breed. In Washington, the Oregon spotted frog, a federally Threatened species gone from 70-90% of its historic range, predominantly, if not only, still exists in beaver ponds.

Beyond the previously mentioned benefits, an increase in the number of beaver ponds helps with climate change as they increase carbon storage, increase surface water storage, recharge groundwater, slow down and help absorb flood waters, and maybe even create natural fire breaks. If there were ever a single animal who is an Earth Day Champion, it’s the beaver.

If you are looking for ideas to celebrate Earth Day, check out King County's digital Earth Day Website, which includes a number of activities that people of all ages can engage in from home. There is even a Celebrate Earth Day coloring page featuring a beaver!

For beaver-related resources you can use on Earth Day and every day, check our King County Beavers website. For guidance addressing challenges with beavers on your property this tools summary and this guide might be helpful. And for more about the history, biology, life history, and ecology of beavers in Washington, see our newly released Life History and Ecology Best Science Paper! Happy Earth Day, everyone!