CDFW News

CDFW Sees ‘Ecosystem Engineers’ at Work in Beaver Restoration Pilot Projects

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:00:00 GMT

Media note: Download report, photos and video here.

Follow this link to watch a video about the translocated beavers, CDFW’s post-release monitoring activities and pilot project ecosystem restoration progress.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) set out on its mission one-and-a-half years ago to begin returning beavers to watersheds throughout their native range in the state. Since then, the translocated beavers have begun their work as ecosystem engineers, initiating the restoration of wetlands and building resilience to the effects of climate change such as drought and wildfire.

Today, CDFW announces the release of a status report (PDF) on the translocated beavers and restoration sites, summarizing project successes, lessons learned and next steps for beaver restoration in California.

Between October 2023 and September 2024, CDFW placed 28 beavers in the Sierra Nevada at five release sites within two pilot projects, which were launched in partnership with the Tule River Tribe in Southern California and the Maidu Summit Consortium in Northern California.

The translocated beavers have since produced two litters of kits and built dams at three of the release sites. At the most productive release site, beavers have begun to dig a network of canals, reconnected the stream with its floodplain and increased the surface water area by approximately 23%.

As part of the state’s Initiative to Expand Nature-Based Solutions, in 2022 CDFW created the Beaver Restoration Program using funding appropriated when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1757. The program aims to better understand where, when and how beavers, long thought of as a nuisance species, can be utilized to restore ecosystems and habitats in California. That knowledge will allow CDFW and the state of California to effectively utilize beavers as a nature-based solution in restoring and conserving habitats and watersheds.

“The Beaver Restoration Program was formed because we recognize the value that beavers can provide on a landscape,” said CDFW Beaver Restoration Program Supervisor Molly Alves. “We are putting beavers back into those portions of their historic range where they can build dams and create wetlands that protect our landscape, wildlife and people from climate change like drought and wildfire.”

In the Maidu Summit Consortium’s Tásmam Koyóm valley, which was burned over by the Dixie Fire in 2021, Alves pointed out that since beavers were placed there in October 2023, both available water and wetland habitat have been expanded by the busy beavers. They built a 100-meter dam across the wetland complex — the largest dam in the area that is just downstream from where the beavers decided to place their lodge. Beavers build dams that hold deeper water to allow for predator avoidance and increase the abundance of and access to preferred food sources.

To date, survival of the translocated beavers is estimated to be between 40-60%, with the primary causes of mortality being predation and illnesses related to underlying conditions (e.g., pneumonia) and capture-related stressors.

"Beavers used to be everywhere, but sadly that is no longer the case," said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “Our history treated beavers as nuisances, and we removed them from the landscape. In the past year CDFW working with the Tule River Tribe and the Maidu Summit Consortium brought beavers home to places they’ve been absent over 100 years.

“Beavers are nature’s Swiss Army knife. The things they can do are amazing. We are finding in some of our scientific work that when beavers are on the landscape in the Sierra, the way they can create wet meadows serves as a fire break that can slow down or even stop catastrophic wildfire,” added Director Bonham.

CDFW’s status report also details the process for submitting beaver restoration project proposals (i.e., translocation requests), identifying priority projects for future implementation and selecting beavers for translocation. Additionally, to better understand the current distribution of beavers in California, CDFW is asking for the public’s participation through an online Beaver Observation Survey Tool.

Media Contacts:

Valerie Cook, CDFW Beaver Restoration Program, (916) 616-6366
Krysten Kellum, CDFW Communications, (916) 825-7120

New CDFW Policy Recognizes Ecological Value of Beavers in California

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 16:25:03 GMT

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has implemented a new policy recognizing the ecological benefits of beavers while mitigating conflict over damage to land and property (depredation). CDFW’s new policy builds upon its existing beaver management policies and lays the groundwork for projects that harness beavers’ natural ability to help protect biodiversity, restore habitat and build wildfire-resilient landscapes. This includes a process that enables beaver relocation as a restoration tool and a new non-lethal option. The policy also outlines a process to mitigate beaver depredation conflict, prioritizes the use of nonlethal deterrents whenever possible and ensures that lethal removal of depredation beavers is done in a humane manner.

The new policy, signed by CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham on June 5, is available on CDFW’s beaver web page. Here are a few key take-aways related to depredation permits:

CDFW shall document all nonlethal measures taken by the landowner to prevent damage prior to requesting a depredation permit.
CDFW shall require implementation of feasible nonlethal corrective actions by the landowner to prevent future beaver damage.
CDFW shall determine whether a property is located within the range of listed species and add permit terms and conditions to protect native wildlife.
CDFW shall continue to prioritize issuance of depredation permits if it determines that an imminent threat to public safety exists, such as flooding or catastrophic infrastructure damage.

“Beavers help improve habitat restoration and water quality, restore ecosystem processes and bolster wildfire resiliency,” said Director Bonham. “This new policy formally recognizes beavers as a keystone species and ecosystem engineers in California. They are truly the Swiss army knife of native species due to their ability to provide so many nature-based ecosystem services.”

CDFW is committed to ensuring that humans and beavers can safely coexist when and where possible, and continues to prioritize communication, staff training, public education and outreach to reduce human/beaver conflict. CDFW staff will provide technical assistance to landowners to prevent future occurrence of beaver damage. In 2020, the CDFW Human-Wildlife Conflict Program created a comprehensive online Human-Wildlife Conflict Toolkit that includes accessible resources with logistically and economically feasible options to help property owners prevent damage due to beaver activity.

“The department’s new Beaver Restoration Program is up and running with the hiring of five environmental scientists dedicated to the program,” continued Bonham. “This is such an exciting time for ecosystem restoration and CDFW is so grateful to the Governor and the Legislature for supporting this new program with funding in Fiscal Year 2022-23.”

On May 24, a consortium of advocates representing the Beaver Policy Working Group and the Placer Land Trust hosted a field trip for legislators and agency representatives including CDFW to Doty Ravine in Placer County to see beaver restoration at work. The field trip served to highlight the state’s Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy (Executive Order N-82-20) in action. The California Natural Resources Agency’s YouTube page features an interview from the field trip (Video) with CDFW Beaver Restoration Program Manager Valerie Cook.

On May 25, CDFW hosted its first virtual informational meeting (webinar) to celebrate the formal launch of the new Beaver Restoration Program. More than 250 people including media outlets attended this webinar to learn more about this historic program. Program staff will collaborate with diverse partners to translocate beavers into watersheds where their dams can help restore hydrologic connectivity, ecological processes and natural habitat. A recording of the webinar is available on CDFW’s beaver web page under the “Beaver-assisted Restoration” tab.

Photo Credit: Traci Beattie / stock.adobe.com

Media contact:
Ken Paglia, CDFW Communications, (916) 825-7120

CDFW To Host Virtual Beaver Restoration Program Informational Meeting on May 25

Wed, 24 May 2023 12:47:02 GMT

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) invites the public to attend its Beaver Restoration Informational Meeting via webinar this Thursday, May 25, from 2 to 3 p.m. The meeting marks the first in a series of informational meetings and workshops intended to inform stakeholders and the public about CDFW’s beaver management efforts and activities.

Virtual meeting link and agenda are now posted on CDFW’s beaver web page under the “Beaver-assisted Restoration” tab.

The meeting will provide a broad overview of CDFW’s Beaver Restoration Program, including its purpose, objectives, tasks, and timelines. Additionally, the meeting will address the implementation of pilot and future beaver translocation projects, development of a beaver co-existence toolkit, and policy updates. The meeting will conclude with a public question and answer session. Future public workshops will be scheduled to discuss human-beaver coexistence strategies and the process for developing and requesting beaver translocation projects.

###

Media contact:
Ken Paglia, CDFW Communications, (916) 825-7120