Beavers to be relocated to Gifford Pinchot in effort to rehab watershed

In an effort to restore health to the watershed, the Cascade Forest Conservancy (CFC) plans to relocate beavers to key locations within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the group announced this week. 

Beavers are native to the area but their population was reduced by the fur trade of the 1800s, according to the group. Populations have partially recovered, but many headwater areas within the Cascades don’t have enough of the dam-building creatures to maintain stream flows and stream-side habitats. 

“This project creates a win-win situation for private landowners, wildlife agencies, and our aquatic ecosystems, which are currently being stressed and altered by climate change,” said Matt Little, executive director of the CFC. “It is exciting to use natural engineers to gain resilience in the ecosystem.”

The Wildlife Conservation Society is funding the project through a grant. The CFC and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe will relocate trapped nuisance beavers from private lands that would otherwise be killed.

“The Cowlitz Indian Tribe is establishing a temporary holding facility that will house beavers until they are released, and both groups have surveyed over 50 potential relocation sites for suitability,” according to a news release from the CFC. “In the best locations, volunteers have already started planting native tree species to establish food for the new arrivals.”

The Gifford Pinchot National Forest’s Heritage Program recently found details of beaver relocation efforts from the 1930s. Approximately 87 beavers were brought into the area at that time.

Shiloh Halsey, conservation science director for CFC, said, “Once beavers are relocated to suitable sites, we will continue to monitor the landscape to record changes in ecosystem form and function. We expect to see expansion of wetlands, water quality improvements, and increases in stream complexity, with larger and more abundant in-stream pools.”