Artificial beaver dams boost coho salmon survival from 8% to 60%
Artificial beaver dams saw juvenile coho salmon survival rates go from 8% to 60%
In California's Scott River valley, artificial beaver dams built by the Scott River Watershed Council have dramatically boosted juvenile coho salmon survival from 8% to 60%. The dams recreate lost wetland habitat, keeping water cooler and supporting over 8,500 young salmon. Even during severe drought, salmon returns remained healthy, highlighting the potential of low-cost restoration.
My take is that the artificial dams have helped people remember what the beaver can do and how integral they are to the health of stream ecosystems.
- _whiteCaps_
There's a really good book about a homesteader that did something similar to this in the 1930's in British Columbia, "Three Against The Wilderness". Basically he restored the dams that had been dynamited by the ranchers, and that restored all of the wetlands in the area.
Later on, the government brought him some beavers from elsewhere, and they flourished.
- richiebful1
It was an interesting, but counterintuitive result that water temperatures went down after artificial beaver damming. Their theory is that the water is able to permeate more into the ground and exchange heat with the ambient underground temperature [1]
1. https://www.science.org/content/article/beaver-dams-without-...
- josefresco
Maybe I missed it, why didn't they just reintroduce beavers?
- krm01
Whatever they eat, did that go down to an all time low. Im m curious about the chain reaction vs an isolated result.
- tomcam
I am sick of underachieving beavers. Go us! Seriously, that would require statutory change here in Washington state. I live in a rural area with salmon waterways all over. Farmers just quietly clear the way for them, because it's illegal to make any changes to the waterway even if it's trash thrown out of cars.