Modern-day trappers are using beavers to fight the effects of drought
KSJD | By Justin Higginbottom
A partnership between governmental agencies and university researchers has modern-day trappers searching Utah for beavers. But they aren’t after pelts. Instead they’re using the large rodent to lessen the effects of drought. From KZMU in Moab, Justin Higginbottom has more.
At the chalky slopes of the Book Cliffs in Southeastern Utah, Christine Sandbach, a graduate student at Utah State University, has a beaver in a cage that she’s trying to get a read on.
“Whenever we interact with them we record their behavior. So she just kind of turned away when I opened up the cage cover. So that would be fearful,” says Sandbach, standing in a leafy oasis along the shallow Price River.
Sandbach is one a number of modern-day trappers searching the state for beavers in a partnership between governmental agencies and university researchers. But they aren’t after pelts. Instead, they’re using the semi-aquatic animal to lessen effects of drought in the region.
In Sandbach’s time trapping she’s gotten to know quite a few of the large rodents.
“It’s interesting, they really do have different behaviors. We just released our last one… He was super aggressive like the whole time. He was a big male. He was kind of scary. He would hiss and lunge at us,” says Sandbach.
But the beaver today is calm with her back turned. Sandbach named her Ice Baby after finding her in the cold waters of a high-elevation canyon. Ice Baby had contributed to an impressive complex which the land’s owner thought was getting out of control.
Although Ice Baby now finds herself some 60 miles south of her home waters, she’s actually lucky.
“Before this project, usually the solution would be lethal removal,” says Sandbach.
Now the hope is that Ice Baby will go to work for the state. Prolonged drought is drying up sections of this river and threatening its fish, including three endangered species. Sandbach and others think beavers can help.
“Beavers are great for the environment,” says Julie Young, a professor at USU working on this project. “Everything kind of benefits or has the potential to benefit when there’s beavers around creating more marsh habitats,” she says.
Beavers build dams to create ponds they can dip into and avoid predators. On this stretch of the Price River, there’s a number of human-made beaver dam analogues (BDAs) to help Ice Baby get started.
“The idea is that maybe if we have beavers out there and they have BDAs… they will dam up some water and let it trickle year round,” says Young.
And that will help the fish. Young says researchers around the country are studying beaver benefits. For example, in Colorado beaver-made wetlands have acted as breaks for wildfires.
This project is a bit of a test case. After all, it’s not an area you might think to find the animal.
“What’s unique about this is it is a desert river system. And that’s more rare,” says Young. She says there’s some really nice dam complexes on the nearby San Rafael River. “And that’s what the Price River could look like if beavers are in sufficient number and decide to dam it up,” she says.
There once was up to 200 million beavers in North America. But the fur trade of previous centuries decimated that population. Luckily for beavers, the price of their pelts have plummeted. Top hats made from their fur fell out of fashion a while ago.
There’s still only 10 to 15 million beavers left on the continent. As the West’s population has expanded, beavers are once again in conflict with humans — this time with landowners.
That’s where Nate Norman comes in. He’s another modern-day trapper.