Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership
The Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership (MWBP) is a multi-basin group of partners that is exploring where and how beaver-based restoration would make the most sense – both ecologically and sociologically.
What is the Goal of the MWBP?
The MWBP seeks to expand the ecological and social benefits that beaver habitats provide while mitigating the potential negative impacts beaver behavior can cause. One component of the work involves a stakeholder engagement (SE) process to understand how landowners, land managers and community members perceive beaver behavior and beaver dams. In addition to the SE process, the MWBP is working with a team of researchers to conduct an extensive beaver habitat assessment of all year-round waterways in the five basins represented by the partnership. We look forward to sharing more information with you as we move further along in this process, but in the meantime, read on below for more information about these buck-toothed ecosystem engineers. If you are interested in learning more about how the MWBP was formed and how it is funded, click here to visit the MWBP background page.
Why Beavers?
The North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) is one of the few species that deliberately and profoundly alters its environment for its own benefit. Beavers often construct dams in order to slow the flow of water and create an open water habitat. These pools provide a safe place for beavers to build their home lodges and access their favorite food – the inner bark layer of certain species of trees, including willow, alder and cottonwood. The ponds and wetlands that are created behind beaver dams do more than provide beaver with a safe place to live, they provide a vast array of benefits to the surrounding landscape and their resident plant and wildlife communities. Some of these benefits we’ve known for a long time, while others are only just beginning to be fully documented.
Below are just a few of the many benefits of beavers and their dams:
Habitat
Beaver ponds create new high-quality habitat for fish and other aquatic life, as well as countless species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, insects and plant-life which depend upon a reliable source of water.
During winter, the slower waters behind beaver dams provide refuge for fish and other aquatic life, preventing them from being swept downstream by strong currents.
Water Quality
The slower-moving waters behind a beaver dam allows sediment to build up at the bottom of the pond, improving water quality. When the beavers eventually move on and the dam breaks down, the water recedes, leaving a lot of nutrient-rich soil behind.
Beaver dams and their ponds can filter toxins and pollutants from the water.
Off-Channel Habitat
Beavers build canals into the neighboring woodlands that radiate out from their home pond. Along with their ponds, these canals allow water and nutrients to flow over the landscape, which creates off-channel habitat for fish and increases water storage, recharging aquifers and raising water tables.
Wildfire Resliency
Beaver ponds and wetlands provide refuge for wildlife during wildfire, and help increase the resilience of the surrounding land to wildfire damage.
Wood and sediment buried in beaver ponds and marshes act as a carbon sink and may play a role in preventing this greenhouse gas from contributing to climate change.
Learn more about how beavers create ponds and wildlife- rich wetlands
Floodplain Improvement
In the summer, beaver ponds keep water in the rivers and on the landscape for longer periods of time by storing rainfall and snowmelt, then gradually releasing it downstream.
During the rain and snowmelt seasons, beaver dams and ponds reduce peak flows and dampen the effects of flooding downstream.
MWBP Partner News
Luckiamute Watershed Council highlights beavers at 2023 and 2024 events with “Beavers in the Basin” theme
During 2023 and 2024, the theme for the Luckiamute Watershed Council’s Love Your Watershed education and outreach program is Beavers in the Basin! The LWC is looking forward to bringing the watershed community events that highlight the history of beavers in the watershed; dispel some beaver myths; give details about the many positive effects that this industrious rodent can have on the health of our rivers and lands; and offer strategies to help reduce beaver-related impacts and increase coexistence opportunities.
Participate in a Beaver-Focused Discussion Group
The Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership is inviting agricultural producers in the Luckiamute, Ash Creek, Marys River, North Santiam, South Santiam or Calapooia watersheds to participate in a discussion group about interactions you have with beavers on or near your property. We are looking specifically for those who derive a significant proportion of their income from growing crops or raising livestock. The discussion will be conducted online via Zoom. Action Research, an independent research agency, has been hired to conduct this group. As a thank you, participants will receive a $50 gift card as compensation for participation in the 90-minute discussion.
The purpose of the discussion group is to gather a variety of perspectives about the presence of beavers in the area, and to gain a greater understanding about the relationship between humans and beavers in the Mid-Willamette Valley. By Mid-Willamette Valley, we are referring to the areas within the Luckiamute, Ash Creek, Marys River, North Santiam, South Santiam or Calapooia watersheds, which includes large portions of Benton, Linn, Polk, and Marion counties and small portions of Lincoln and Lane counties.
The discussion group will be held between March 27 and March 31. Further details will be provided upon acceptance into the group. To see if you qualify to participate, please call Action Research at (760) 722-4000 between 8:30am and 5:00pm. If outside regular business hours, please leave your name, telephone number, and best time to reach you and someone from Action Research will contact you.
If you have any questions about this opportunity, please feel free to contact Suzanne Teller at outreach@luckiamutelwc.org. Thank you!
The Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership includes:
Project partners beyond the MWBP include:
Project funded by:
