The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recognized the importance of beavers as a “keystone species” in 2023 when they established the Beaver Restoration Program. This program strives to implement beaver-assisted restoration projects to support ecosystem conservation and improve climate, drought, and wildfire resilience throughout California.
Why, you might ask, all this hubbub about beavers?
Beavers are wildfire heroes.
Beavers are floodplain architects.
Beavers are a friend to fish.
If you go for a walk along the Salinas River, where the river is mostly experienced as a dry, sandy, wash, and instead you see large expanses of PONDS that have been dammed up (by beavers), surrounded by lush willow, mulefat, cottonwoods, and it’s just deafening with birdsong…
…you start to understand why beavers are worth getting excited about.
But don’t just take our word for it—come down to the river and see for yourself!