The WATER Institute Beaver Campaign Hits The Road!
In late February and early March, Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman of the WATER Institute made great headway in forwarding their Bring Back the Beaver Campaign through a series of strategic meetings, workshops and conferences in northern California and Oregon. Joined by Swift Water Design’s non-lethal beaver management specialist Kevin Swift, Brock and Kate were able to further our collaboration with key partners in our effort to steward beaver for their benefits in California.
We participated in the Restoring Beaver to Restore Rivers workshop in Weed, California. This interactive workshop was conducted to solicit input from land owners/managers, restoration funders, reviewers, and practitioners actively involved in beaver restoration and management. The culmination of this workshop is a Beaver Restoration Guidebook that is currently in development. The WATER Institute has been enlisted to be a peer reviewer of this document and looks forward to using it to support agencies and landowners working to restore beaver in California.
Solutions for drought, including beaver restoration, was the focus of the presentation the WATER Institute gave to a sold out audience in the Fall River Valley. Renowned for its world class trout fishing, even this water-rich area is struggling to maintain water quality and quantity. The WATER Institute toured the river and met with local water officials and conservationists to discuss options for water conservation and the role beaver could play in their watershed.
On our way north we toured Squaw Creek, a sub-tributary of the McCloud River, to assess beaver presence/absence and found some nice dams and evidence of fresh chews on the surrounding willow.
Brock and Kate both gave presentations to the 200 attendees at the biennial State of the Beaver Conference in Canyonville, Oregon. This conference is the premiere gathering of beaver advocates and scientists working to promote the benefits of beaver across North America and Europe. During the conference we met with our partners from other states to discuss our strategy to change beaver management policy in California and forged new relationships with those who have had success in their respective states.
If you met us at one of these events:
- Check out our Bring Back the Beaver Campaign
- Contact us for more information or to collaborate
- Help us map beaver sightings in California
- Check out our beaver resources handout
