Projects

A municipality Oregon spent millions of dollars constructing a storm water runoff treatment facility. Then beavers moved in.

At first they were perceived as problem, a potential threat to the facility’s operations. Little did the City know that the beaver dams would prove to be beneficial, filtering the water to a higher quality than the facility provided alone, not to mention creating critical wetland habitat. Led by a skilled watershed ecologist, the city set up a monitoring program to collect data showing that that the beaver dams filter out toxic pollutants from cars and industry, sending cleaner, colder water out into the Columbia Slough.

The height of the beaver dam was causing concern, but by installing a pond leveler a win-win was created for all. This story of living alongside beaver is a testament to the power of coexistence efforts to benefit wildlife and humans alike.