For the first time in two centuries, California is turning into an exceptional place for beavers. This past summer, a wave of bipartisan support swept through the state Legislature, culminating in the passage of Assembly Bill 2196. This vital legislation establishes the Beaver Restoration Program within the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as a protected entity, shielding it from potential state budget cuts and political swings. The program focuses on beaver-supported environmental projects and serves as a bold counteraction to the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that stripped protections under the Clean Water Act from a significant portion of the nation’s waterways and wetlands.
For over twenty years, California’s environmental advocates, biologists, and Indigenous tribes have been championing the cause of beavers. They embarked on an intensive educational endeavor to prove that beavers are indeed native across the state. Now, with this restoration effort, California aims to further its “30×30” ambitions—a nationwide initiative aspiring to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and coastal regions by 2030.
In a move that acknowledges beavers as ecological assets rather than nuisances, the state is developing a comprehensive management plan supported by a $2 million fund. This allocation will craft strategies for peaceful coexistence and facilitate the relocation of problematic beavers to areas where they can contribute positively. Thus, the long-misunderstood beaver, once seen as a pest, is now celebrated as a key player in environmental restoration.
Wade Crowfoot, California’s Secretary for Natural Resources, expressed pride in the state’s shift from a lagging position to a leading one in beaver management. He acknowledged that although there are no magical fixes for environmental restoration, beavers play a crucial role as keystone species in reestablishing the state’s ecosystems.
Beavers were nearly obliterated from their natural habitat across California by 1900 due to relentless hunting by fur traders and the demands of urban development. Survivors often faced hostility from landowners who disliked their trees being chewed down or their lands flooded, resulting in these beavers being eradicated as pests. Nevertheless, the ecological functions beavers provide are indispensable for California’s environment—they are nature’s architects for ecosystems and water management.
California’s ongoing battle with climate change has significantly altered its water systems, leading to increased rainfall, decreased snowmelt, and exacerbated conditions for wildfires, droughts, and groundwater depletion. Beavers can turn the tide; their dam-building activities create ponds and wetlands that directly counteract these environmental challenges.
Beyond their visible impact, beaver ponds perform the subtle magic of slowing water flow in rivers and streams, effectively storing up to three times the visible water in massive underground reservoirs. These reservoirs act as sponges, sustaining water availability during dry spells and absorbing excess floodwaters to enhance resilience.
Research has vividly illustrated beavers’ capacity to combat wildfires. Following the massive Manter fire in 2000, satellite images starkly contrasted a scorched terrain with a thriving green line where beavers’ dams had stood. Analysis before and after the fire cemented the reputation of “Smokey the Beaver” as a cost-effective protector against fires, creating bands of fire-resistant habitat.
Beavers play a pivotal role in preserving healthy waterways and securing future water supplies. The wetlands surrounding their ponds not only sequester carbon but also purify water by filtering out pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus. Through their remarkable engineering, beavers forge connections between land and water, transforming these areas into biodiversity hotspots that support numerous plant and animal species, including many that are endangered. Ecosystems with beaver wetlands boast a 30% increase in biodiversity compared to those without.
Recent studies have even quantified the economic value of having beavers in landscapes. The University of Helsinki estimated potential savings at $500 million annually across the Northern Hemisphere alone.
Molly Alves, who took on the role of Beaver Restoration Program supervisor at California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife this past summer, is meticulously mapping watersheds and gathering data. Her goal is to relocate beavers to places where they can offer the greatest ecological benefits.
“We’re evaluating the landscape comprehensively,” Alves stated. “Which areas face the highest wildfire risk? Where are drought impacts the most severe? Where is erosion a concern?” She’s also compiling a thorough report on the results of ongoing beaver relocations.
Last year, beavers were reintroduced to two sites long inhabited by Indigenous Californians—the Mountain Maidu and the Tule River Indians.
On the Maidu’s traditional territory, Tásmam Koyóm, which spans 2,000 acres near the Feather River’s headwaters, a group of seven beavers joined a solitary resident beaver in October 2023. By June 2024, the Fish and Wildlife Department announced the translocation of additional beavers to the south fork of the Tule River in Sequoia National Forest, near Porterville, California.
These releases marked a historic homecoming. In Tásmam Koyóm, remnants of old beaver dams existed in the mountain meadows, and in the southern Sierra, the heritage of beavers remains etched in ancient pictographs as noted by Kenneth McDarment, the Tule River Tribe’s range manager.
To facilitate a successful reintroduction, tribal leaders collaborated with scientists, nonprofits, and state authorities to cultivate beaver-friendly habitats. They planted beaver-favored vegetation like willows and constructed artificial beaver dam analogs to ensure enough water in these areas for beavers to thrive and establish colonies.
The Maidu aspire to transform Tásmam Koyóm into a living example of traditional ecological knowledge. “Bringing back the beaver,” Lorena Gorbert of the Maidu Consortium explained, “restores balance and revives the ecosystem to its rightful state.”
Meanwhile, McDarment highlighted how in 2014, amid a severe drought, the Tule River was on the brink of drying up. The tribe decided it was time to “bring beavers home.”
The Supreme Court’s decision to limit the scope of the Clean Water Act has jeopardized protection for noncontinuous rivers and streams, which include the very tributaries and wetlands essential to beaver habitats. These are the precise areas that beavers help nourish and maintain in optimal health.
With the pilot programs for beaver relocation and the formalization of the restoration project, California is actively opposing a dismal history and the Supreme Court’s detrimental short-sightedness. The state is setting a vibrant example for the country by demonstrating how political action harmonized with nature-centric solutions can cultivate both environmental and economic resilience.
All eyes are now fixed on California and its committed efforts to uplift its beaver population.
Leila Philip, the author of “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America,” is a professor at the College of the Holy Cross, where she leads the humanities department.
