Montana Beaver Working Group
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Connecting people and sharing resources to advance the beaver's keystone role
in watershed health
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As winter melts into an early spring, the watersheds with beaver wetlands will sponge up the snowpack. Photo Credit: Ben Goldfarb
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Beaver Working Group Leadership Transition
A Note from Sarah Bates, National Wildlife Federation
Over the past year members of the Montana Beaver Working Group likely observed an improved look and feel of this newsletter, thanks to Rob Rich’s outstanding editorial leadership. Rob generously contributed photographs, conducted interviews for feature stories, and tapped his extensive network for useful resources to share with our coalition members. When members of our group gathered last spring to update our action priorities, Rob was also at the center of that (virtual) gathering, preparing an updated status report and capturing the key ideas developed at our meeting.
We all benefitted from this, but I especially appreciated Rob’s many contributions while I was temporarily filling a regional leadership position at the National Wildlife Federation, which now has led to my transitioning to retirement. So I want to take this opportunity to express my deep and lasting gratitude to Rob for helping our group stay connected and informed.
I’m also pleased to announce a new coordinator for our group! Shelby Weigand joined the National Wildlife Federation in late March as our Senior Coordinator, Riparian Connectivity. She previously worked as the Sage Grouse Initiative Range and Wildlife Conservationist with Pheasants Forever in Burns, Oregon, and recently returned to Missoula, where she earned her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana. Shelby brings experience working with landowners, agencies, and conservation partners to improve riparian habitat, gained from positions in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and North Dakota, and she’s an avid outdoors person who will be a great hands-on partner in our habitat and outreach work throughout Montana. You can reach Shelby at WeigandS@nwf.org, and you’ll hear more from her in the next newsletter.
I’m sincerely grateful for the opportunity to work with this amazing network, to learn so much from everyone, and enjoy new friendships and inspiration. I look forward to watching and hearing about the good work of the Montana Beaver Working Group in the years to come.
Thank you!
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Shelby's applied experience with low-tech, process-based restoration will be especially valuable for the Federation's existing and emerging projects across Montana and beyond. Photo Credit: Sarah Bates
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Raise a Pint to Celebrate Beavers and Beer
Raise a pint to celebrate beavers and beer on Thursday, April 7, which is International Beaver Day AND National Beer Day! In honor of these worthy observances, Katabatic Brewing Company in Livingston, Montana is releasing "Tail Slap" Hazy pale ale, a win for both water-saving rodents and beer-loving humans. A portion of proceeds from all drinks purchased from 5-8 pm on Thursday, April 7 will go towards Montana Freshwater Partners, a local wetland restoration organization that is launching efforts to train a beaver-human conflict resolution specialist in the Livingston area. Please spread the word, bring your friends to enjoy a tasty (and gluten-reduced) beverage, and help us celebrate beavers and beer!
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Beaver Con 2022
Building Climate Resilience: A Nature-Based Approach
Hunt Valley, MD
June 14-16, 2022 (NEW DATES!)
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Registration is open for the second, Maryland-based BeaverCON event, which builds off the successful State of the Beaver Conference hosted in Oregon on alternating years. BeaverCON 2022 will feature a presentation on Montana's work to restore beavers and resolve conflicts, as well as panel discussions, demonstrations, and networking opportunities with the beaver community. Conference hosts have changed the dates and are taking precautions for COVID-19 safety. Learn more here.
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Image Credit: Cows & Fish / Miistakis Institute |
Beavers in Our Landscape: Alberta Virtual Field Tour
Cows and Fish / Miistakis Institute
March 24, 2022
The amazing Alberta-based partnership between Cows & Fish and the Miistakis Institute is here to inspire once again! In their webinar (recorded here) this dynamic duo provides a tour-de-force of some of the latest tools, tips, and lessons learned from projects around their province. For anyone eager to see or share solutions in practice and strategies for engaging stakeholders, this presentation is a great place to start.
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Recruiting sediment and wood is an essental function of healthy waterways, but the fine silt once hemorrhaging off this road and into the adjacent wetland was not good for people or beavers. Thankfully, the smiles of this culvert-fencing crew show that there is a better way. Credit: Rob Rich
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Beaver Management Along Roads and Within the Right-of-Way: Report and Recommendations for the Colorado Department of Transportation
Katherine Millman, Colorado Department of Transportation
March 2022
As many as 400 million beavers once roamed North America, and such astounding numbers were made possible because the landscape was largely without roads. But after the fur trade whittled the beaver population to a mere 100,000 animals, our infamous infrastructure began to seize many of the low-gradient, riparian areas where beavers once thrived. While it's thought there are 10-15 million beavers across the continent today, their continued recovery will not be possible without proactive planning to prevent beaver-human conflicts around roads. But coexistence is possible, and in this new report the Colorado Department of Transportation provides a broad overview of efforts toward living with beavers along roads in their state. Drawing on a literature review and extensive interviews, this report offers a comprehensive assessment with examples, practical insights, and recommendations.
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This Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah) is one of 14 cutthroat trout subpecies, each with a unique range that North America's history of glaciation helped define. While the subspecies' distributions are distinct, beavers can help provide the cold, clean, complex, and connected water that all cutthroat need to thrive. Credit: Utah DWR
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Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Stocked into Newly Created Beaver Ponds
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
January 28, 2022
Thanks to some low-tech, process-based restoration to initiate healthy habitat conditions—and a few relocated beavers to maintain and extend that healing—nearly 50,000 Bonneville cutthroat trout fingerlings have a promising future in streams along Utah's Wasatch Front. This cutthroat subspecies is listed on Utah's Sensitive Species List, and the declining snowpack of its arid mountain watersheds pose certain threats in our changing climate, but recovering beaver habitat offers hope to keep more water on the landscape throughout the year. To learn more about how the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and its beaver partners turned a tiny trickle-of-a-stream into a dynamic, complex refuge with deep, persisting pools, check out this video.
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Murky Waters: Divergent Ways Scientists, Practitioners, and Landowners Evaluate Beaver Mimicry
Tori Pfaeffel, Megan A. Moore, Amanda E. Cravens, Jamie McEvoy, and Aparna Bamzai-Dodson
Ecology and Society, 2022
On November 18, 2020, the University of Montana, National Wildlife Federation, and The Nature Conservancy co-hosted a webinar on university research regarding beaver restoration and beaver mimicry. That recorded webinar is available here. Jamie McEvoy, a Montana State University researcher featured in that program, has now co-authored a paper related to this work with several colleagues. You can read this new paper here.
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Please send photos, stories, upcoming events, and other resources to:
Shelby Weigand - Senior Coordinator, Riparan Connectivity National Wildlife Federation
MT Beaver Working Group newsletters are posted online and can be found here.
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