The Beaver
Effect
Climate Champions
Earth faces increasingly intense droughts, wildfires, flooding, and species loss as a result of global temperatures rising. While scientists have known for decades that beavers provide many benefits, the latest research reveals a bigger picture: these dam-determined heroes can simultaneously fight a wide range of climate change threats.
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“It may seem trite to say that beavers are a key part of a national climate action plan, but the reality is that they are a force of 15–40 million highly skilled environmental engineers. We cannot afford to work against them any longer; we need to work with them.”
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Dr. Chris Jordan and
Dr. Emily Fairfax
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When beavers build dams across a stream or river, ponds naturally form, slowing down the rush of water and creating space for sediment and nitrogen to sink. This process begins to capture and store carbon. In dry western regions, meadow habitats with active beaver populations have been shown to store millions of megagrams of carbon, rivaling even the storage abilities of some forests. Imagine this powerful capability activated across North America in all the places beavers historically called home!
Capturing Carbon Pollution
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Wildfires are a natural and needed pattern of a healthy ecosystem, but climate change has made these events more intense by magnifying heat waves and periods of drought. This allows fires to spread more quickly and burn more intensely than in the past.
In the creative video below by Emily Fairfax, beavers build a green oasis by spreading water everywhere. When a wildfire comes rushing through, the lush surface of the landscape acts as a natural firebreak while protecting wildlife within its boundaries. As the Western United States continues to experience episodes of widespread fire, beavers and their transformational work should be considered part of the solution for constructing natural guardrails around these events.
Combatting Wildfire
Illustration of how, when beavers raise the water table of an ecosystem, the well-hydrated vegetation and surface area acts as a firebreak, even for rapidly moving flames.
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The past two decades have seen some of the driest years on record in the western United States and with climate change, they’re becoming more extreme.
In study after study, researchers find that beaver dams raise water levels and increase water storage in wetlands and riparian landscapes. These dams release water gradually during and after periods of rainfall (ensuring the sustained flow of water even throughout dry periods). As floodplains receive this influx of water, they become healthy wetland environments able to withstand drought conditions.
Mitigating Drought
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Birch Creek, a stream in southeastern Idaho was once a favorite fishing spot for local families, before it began to dry up in 1995 due to many years of beaver removal and human development. But in 2015, community member Jay Wilde decided to do something to help. He knew beavers could bring watersheds back to life, so he worked with government agencies to build two dozen dam analogs (structures that mimic beaver dams and provide safe pond areas). And the beavers moved back! According to a Science News article about the project, “In just three years, those beavers built 149 dams, transforming the once-narrow strip of green along the stream into a wide, vibrant floodplain. Birch Creek flowed 42 days longer, through the hottest part of the summer.”
Combatting Wildfire
While restoring Birch Creek was successful, more than half of streams and rivers are imperiled in the United States and cannot sustain aquatic life in the ways they once did. We need to allow beavers to restore landscapes, from capturing carbon and rejuvenating soil to storing critical reserves of water. Our job, then, is to get out of their way and let them be the industrious superheroes they are. In the years ahead, we’ll be thankful to consider beavers an effective ally in climate activism.
The photo shows beaver-built landscape forming an oasis in the middle of a forest impacted by wildfire.