Happy International Beaver Day!

While there are all sorts of serious reasons to love beaver (including their ability to create habitat for many species, buffer the effects of climate change, increase the presence of … Read more

OAEC Makes a Splash in Restoration Journal

Ecesis, the quarterly news journal of SerCal (California Society for Ecological Restoration) features an article written by our own WATER Institute Co-Directors, Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman, and Development and … Read more

Beaver Mania Hits the News!

Since our announcement in July about the State’s monumental decision to fund the creation of a new Beaver Restoration Program to be led by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, … Read more

Article on “Beaver Dam Analogs” in Yellow Creek

OAEC’s WATER Institute was featured this month in SF Estuary Magazine (including Brock Dolman’s cover shot!) for beaver restoration work on Yellow Creek in theĀ TĆ”smam Koyóm Maidu Cultural Park, Plumas … Read more

CA Beaver Summit – video recording

Climate change is making California hotter, drier, and harder for people and wildlife. Beaver can help. Watch the video recording of the California Beaver Summit! click here to watch During … Read more

Bring Back the Beaver Campaign: Spring 2019 Events

Want to learn about all the amazing benefits of beaver for California watersheds? Join WATER Institute DirectorsĀ Kate LundquistĀ and/or Brock Dolman at these upcoming events: February 19-21 –Ā State of the Beaver … Read more

Busy Beavers

WATER Institute co-directors Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman have fully embodied their busy mascot this summer as they hit the Bring Back the Beaver Campaign trail! Ā The past few weeks … Read more

Beaverpalooza 2015

WATER Institute drought beaver

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 … Read more

Help Us Map Beaver Sightings in California!

Child's Meadow Beaver Dam

Join our Citizen Science campaign to map current distribution of beaver in California. As part of our Bring Back the Beaver campaign, The WATER Institute is collaborating with Eli Asarian … Read more

WATER Institute Director Learns to Relocate Beaver In Colorado

Kate Lundquist and Kevin Swift live trapping beaver in Colorado

In the summer of 2014, WATER Institute Director Kate Lundquist went to Colorado to learn to live trap and relocate beaver (Castor canadensis) from long-time beaver advocate Sherri Tippie of Wildlife 2000. Accompanied by her partner and non-lethal beaver management designer Kevin Swift, Kate got see first hand how the state of Colorado is successfully implementing this important non-lethal beaver management strategy. Beaver dams provide numerous benefits to the communities they reside in, from increasing water supply to creating valuable habitat for many other species.

Why did they have to go all the way to Colorado to learn about this? Because it is not legal to do so in California. While many arid western states (Oregon, Washington State, Utah and Colorado) move beaver to places that could benefit from the myriad ecosystem services they provide, California law focuses solely on hunting and lethal management of nuisance beaver.

Kate setting beaver trapIn the absence of such innovative practices, the WATER Institute has launched a Bring Back the Beaver Campaign to integrate beaver management into California policy and regulation in order to improve water quality and quantity, create critical wetland habitat for numerous endangered species and optimize aquatic resource conservation and climate change adaptation strategies.

Colorado’s example is one that the WATER Institute intends to use when making policy recommendations to theĀ California Department of Fish and Wildlife.