Fryer Creek is an engineered flood control channel owned by Sonoma Water. Sonoma Water has taken extensive effort to restore the riparian trees along many of its urban channels. The recent use of Fryer Creek by beaver, who eat willow and cottonwood trees, is an indication of the improved habitat conditions along the creek. Thanks to the beaver dam, what was usually a dried-up creek bed for most of the year is now a haven for aquatic animals and birds.
However, when the beaver moved into the East Fork of the creek within the Sonoma city limits, there was concern about increased flooding of the adjacent trail that could potentially block passage for trail users, and importantly, emergency vehicles. This is when the OAEC WATER Institute got involved to help facilitate a solution. OAEC has been monitoring the beaver dam since last year while consulting with Sonoma Water on options to allow beaver to remain in the creek while reducing the risk of flooding.
With the help of Swift Water Design, a pond leveler device was installed on April 27th, 2020. The team worked diligently to protect the resident beaver while installing this device, which will now reduce flooding on Sonoma Water’s access road. It took a full day to carefully lower the pond level, and beaver activity was detected that very night. They decided to only drop the water level no more than 12” to let the beaver adjust and allow the overall system to find its new equilibrium. The team will return later to evaluate if this was minimally sufficient to gain access to the roadbed again.
For more information on how a pond-leveler device works, visit Swift Water Design’s website.
OAEC’s WATER Institute set out a ‘physical distancing’ safe table to freely offer our educational beaver booklets and returned home almost empty, having given out many copies. Kate and Brock (in his Buster Beaver costume!) had many important and clarifying conversations with the nearby neighbors and people who use the trail frequently.
A Green Heron appeared during the install, perhaps knowing that maintaining this beaver habitat grows more fish and frogs, which equals more Green Heron food!
Thank you to Sonoma Water for supporting this win-win project, striving to balance supporting the beaver while reducing flooding on the trail and maintaining critical access to key floodway and emergency management infrastructure. OAEC WATER Institute is grateful for the opportunity to work with Sonoma Water on this successful non-lethal management solution and plans to stay involved with this and other projects to help the agency coexist with beaver. As part of this collaboration, OAEC WATER Institute was hired to give input on Sonoma Water’s Working with Beavers on Sonoma Water Channels and their Fryer Creek Beaver Impact Analysis and Alternatives Development reports.
For more information about beaver coexistence and stewardship, download our Beaver in California booklet. Read more in an article in the Sonoma Index-Tribune.
