Image Courtesy: AP
Ellensburg: In a heavily irrigated Washington valley where fish, crops and people often compete for water, biologists are turning to one of nature's best engineers to help restore streams and salmon habitat.
Landowners typically trap or kill beavers that block irrigation canals and flood homes in the Yakima Valley.
But one project is relocating the trouble-making mammals to the headwaters of the Yakima River, where their talent for chewing willows and constructing lodges can be put to good use.
Project manager Mel Babik says beavers can be really destructive, but in the right places, they can be good ecosystem engineers.
In Washington, Oregon, Utah and other parts of the West, beavers increasingly are being used as an effective, low-cost tool to help restore rivers. Experts say their dams and ponds add complexity to an ecosystem, slowing the flow of water and sediment downstream.
Landowners typically trap or kill beavers that block irrigation canals and flood homes in the Yakima Valley.
But one project is relocating the trouble-making mammals to the headwaters of the Yakima River, where their talent for chewing willows and constructing lodges can be put to good use.
Project manager Mel Babik says beavers can be really destructive, but in the right places, they can be good ecosystem engineers.
In Washington, Oregon, Utah and other parts of the West, beavers increasingly are being used as an effective, low-cost tool to help restore rivers. Experts say their dams and ponds add complexity to an ecosystem, slowing the flow of water and sediment downstream.
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