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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Photo Credits: Ben LaPorte | |
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Bridging the State with Our Stories
To a beaver, a road over water is a dam with a hole in it. This is a common quip among those of us who work with beavers, and it aptly conveys the tangle of the rodent's choices with ours. So many of these choices play out in similar ways (humans build road through wetland, beavers plug culvert, dam backs up water, road floods...) but the conditions and the consequences are never quite the same.
Humans, like beavers, learn what works from each other. When we see an example of coexistence done well, we're more likely to try it ourselves. When we see someone we respect in a conflict, we are more likely to find the compassion and tools to help them adapt. But the less we see, feel, and understand from individual situations, the less likely we'll be able to reach collective, collaborative solutions. Important new research from the University of Montana suggests these patterns unfold with human-grizzly bear conflicts, too. We reserve our deepest empathy for people who share our social identity, and where we can't empathize, we may deepen the conflict, even though we might truly want a more agreeable alternative.
At the recent March meeting of the Montana Beaver Working Group, our state's beaver leaders agreed that we want to learn more from each other in this newsletter. We want to see more stories of how communities are responding to beavers, what questions they have, and what needs or opportunities are driving them forward.
Ben La Porte, Restoration Program Manager at the Big Hole Watershed Council, was quick to jump to the call with the compelling photos above, showing a before-after sequence of a property where the landowner wanted the beavers to stick around. The landowner had seen an example of what was possible and, despite the threat of imminent inundation, they wanted to give the possible a try. That hint of promise brought people together, and it did work out for the landowner, and their beaver neighbors, too.
If you have a story from your Montana beaver work that you want to share, we'd love to hear it. Please reach out to Shelby Weigand (weigands@nwf.org) or Rob Rich (rlrich3@gmail.com) with any ideas or stories - in words or images - that you have, and know that your work might change a heart or a mind in just the right place, at just the right time.
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Welcome to Kyle Wonders, Region 3 Beaver Conflict Resolution Fellow!
The National Wildlife Federation has selected Kyle Wonders to serve as the Beaver Conflict Resolution Fellow for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' Region 3. Trained as a wildlife biologist and environmental educator with a degree from the University of Montana, Wonders has experience teaching and collecting data in riparian systems, including extensive fish and beaver habitat monitoring throughout western Montana. Wonders will be based in Livingston, and he is thrilled for the chance to support hand-on conservation solutions in some of the most gorgeous landscapes around. You can reach out to Kyle at MTBeaver3@nwf.org to learn more about his work or seek his services in southwest Montana!
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MWCC Fall Watershed Tour
Sun River Watershed
September 18-20, 2024
Save the date! The Montana Watershed Coordination Council has announced that it will host its biennial Fall Watershed Tour with the Sun River Watershed Group over September 18-20. The Sun River Watershed Group is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and the tour will travel from Great Falls toward the headwaters in the Bob Marshall Wilderness for three days of learning, peer exchanges, local storytelling, and on-the-ground project experiences that demonstrate the unique resource challenges and diverse conservation and partnership strategies implemented by local organizers across the region. With an anticipated audience of 80 attendees from across Montana, the event will allow opportunities for participants to connect and learn from practitioners, coordinators, and technical experts.
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Willows, low-gradient streams, thawing permafrost mud, and water, water everywhere. The Arctic is becoming a beaver paradise. Photo Credit: Ken Tape | |
In the Arctic Beavers Are Climate Change Winners. Should We Let Them Take Over?
Ben Goldfarb, Audubon
Spring 2024
This past February, National Wildlife Federation's Elissa Chott journeyed from Montana to Alaska, where beavers are rapidly expanding as climate change thaws out new habitat. Elissa had been invited to a convening of the Arctic Beaver Observation Network for her experience with beaver conflict resolution and fish passage, two novel issues of increasing interest in the rapidly changing conditions of the Arctic.
It's not much easier to articulate the questions than the answers driving this incredibly complex topic, but thankfully writer Ben Goldfarb has masterfully gathered the core insights to help us understand the many facets involved. Given the compounding, cascading effects of climate change, the impacts of Arctic beavers are linked to each and every one of us. You can learn how here.
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Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Photo Credit: USFWS | |
Decision to Implement Beaver Dam Notching in Red Rock Creek
US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
April 2024
Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, in southwest Montana's Centennial Valley, contains one of four populations of endangered Arctic grayling in the contiguous United States that is still exhibiting the species' full spectrum of life history behaviors. Earlier this year, the USFWS proposed notching beaver dams in April and May along Red Rock Creek to improve grayling access to spawning habitat. The USFWS recently issued a Finding of No Signficant Impact and plans to proceed with the work, and you can read the full decision here.
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Navigating the Permitting and Regulatory Environment of Beaver-Related Projects: A Panel Discussion
National Association of Wetland Managers
March 2024
For the latest beaver-related restoration webinar from the National Association of Wetland Managers, permitting took the stage. Often discussed but rarely mastered, this is a topic that varies regionally, jurisdictionally, and operationally. But beavers are helping practitioners to hone their shared goals and methods for advancing watershed health, and this exciting panel conversation revealed pathways through the permitting mazes we face. Adam Burnett (Beaver Institute), Alexa Whipple (Methow Beaver Project), Rob Walton (Beaver Institute), and Dan Aitchison (Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation) were the featured guests in this conversation, and you can learn more through the recording and PDF of the presentation found here.
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Beavers and Drought Webinar with Dr. Cherie Westbrook
Working with Beavers Collaborative (Cows & Fish, Miistakis Institute)
March 2024
On March 13, 2024, the Working with Beavers Collaborative (Cows and Fish and the Miistakis Institute) hosted this webinar about beavers and their role in watershed resiliency with respect to drought. This webinar featured guest speaker Dr. Cherie Westbrook from the University of Saskatchewan, who does an outstanding job conveying how the science of beaver-shaped hydrology underpins core needs and opportunities for conservation. You can watch the webinar recording here.
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Beaver Benefits: Beavers Drive Healthy Water Cycles
Project Beaver
March 2024
In the last issue we shared "How Beavers Fix It," a compelling new publication from Project Beaver that informs and inspires how we integrate plant trees and shrubs to attract healthy beaver activity. Since then, Project Beaver has continued to outdo itself with new publication about how beavers drive healthy water cycles. You can download this elegant publication and see its companions in the ever-growing Beaver Impacts 101 series here.
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Beavers Played an Important Part in the Lives of Ancient Humans
Paige Madison, Discover
December 2023
Three hundred years ago, humans were drawing beaver populations toward extinction in the Fur Trade. Today, we're deploying culvert fences and pond levelers to manage beavers nonlethally. Each case presumes the humans are in control. But have beavers shaped human populations, to the point of shifting the landscapes and livelihoods through which we evolved? New research suggests the answer is yes. As they do for countless other animals, beavers provided places of forage and shelter that supported our ancestors, and this was especially significant in the millennia following the last Ice Age. For a deeper perspective on our ancient relationship with beavers, read on here.
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Executive Director
Madison River Foundation
Open Until Filled
The Madison River Foundation (MRF) is seeking an Executive Director, who will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the organization ensuring that they are operating effectively to meet organizational goals. As the face of the MRF, the Executive Director works closely with the Board of Directors and Partners. The Executive Director will ensure that staff members are aligned with the organization’s mission and vision and that they are working together to successfully achieve strategic objectives. The MRF has a culture that places a high priority on positive leadership, communication, recognition and collaboration. Read the full description here.
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Project Manager
Gallatin Watershed Council
Open Until Filled
The project manager will work to develop and manage collaborative stream restoration projects, advancing progress towards the restoration and protection of groundwater and surface water resources in the Lower Gallatin Watershed. Read the full description here.
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Please send photos, stories, upcoming events, opportunities, and other resources to:
Shelby Weigand - Riparian Connectivity Manager,
National Wildlife Federation
WeigandS@nwf.org
MT Beaver Working Group newsletters are posted online here.
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