Riverfront Trail Notes No. 39: Leave It To Beavers!

      There are many places on the Riverfront Trail that show signs of the presence of industrious beavers but a closer look at any heavily vegetated stretch of river bank will reveal the surgically cut ends of woody shrubs and trees with the beaver’s telltale precision teeth marks. Beavers are rodents which simply means they have continuously growing incisors on both upper and lower jaws and spend their life gnawing for food, shelter and building habitat. Currently one can see a nearly complete beaver dam from the Trail along the East bank of Chenoweth Creek. In this season leafless creekside trees allow a better view of the long curved dam that does not quite yet reach the far bank. Upstream of the dam invasive blackberry vines and native Coyote and Pacific willow dominate the creek banks.

      Recent efforts by the Wasco County Conservation District resulted in a large log and rock placement in the creek bed to disperse and tame high water flows and enhance habitat restoration for a host of species. Scott Susi of WCCD reports Coho Salmon were observed spawning in December. Negotiating limited funding and a challenging permitting process, the District seeks stream restoration and achieving a more vibrant Chenoweth Creek estuary. In most years Chenoweth Creek dries up in mid to late summer and can’t support the diverse community of fish, birds and plant life that characterized the creek historically. Beavers can be a key factor in restoration by impounding water that serves to lengthen the season for native plants and animals in the estuary. The hydrology of the North American continent was astoundingly healthy and diverse due to the wetlands and healthy streams and meadows created and maintained by upwards of 200 million beavers from the Sub-arctic to the desert of Northern Mexico. After near extermination for their fur, beginning in 1670, today beavers number only 12-15 million.

      In his fascinating book “Eager - The Surprising, Secret Life Of Beavers And Why They Matter,” author Ben Goldfarb offers a deep dive into the history, science and benefits of beavers in the landscape. Written with humor and abiding curiosity about a unique species that once thrived across the entire continent, Goldfarb makes the case for bringing back the most industrious and ecologically helpful animal on the planet.

“A thousand meadows on the mountains tell the story of the beavers, to remain fresh and green for many a century, monuments of their happy, industrious lives”

                     — John Muir