Beaver Observation Survey

December 28, 2023

Question: Is there a way for the public to get involved in CDFW’s beaver restoration program?

Answer: CDFW welcomes information from the public as the department strives to gain a better understanding of the current range of beavers in California. The first comprehensive beaver population survey conducted in California can be found on CDFW's website. The California Beaver Observation Survey includes questions on the date, location, type of activity, and the number and size of the beavers observed. Photos of the beaver activity, location and lodge can be submitted through the survey page as well.

The Beaver Restoration Program is a result of shifting attitudes toward the benefits of beaver families in the environment. There’s a growing recognition of the ecological improvements linked to beaver activity, as opposed to the animal being considered a potential nuisance species by some in the past. CDFW considers these animals ecosystem engineers by playing a role in restoring watersheds while increasing resiliency to climate change and wildfire.

The development of the survey comes after CDFW launched the initial phase of its beaver translocation activities, recently conducting the first beaver conservation release in nearly 75 years with the goal of re-establishing a breeding population.

Do you know if there is a way to view the data they are collecting? I could only find an option to input the data.

I came here to learn about beaver observation. 
 

I love beavers!

I came here to learn about beaver observation. 
 

I would have canceled my NCKA subscription if this (or similar) comment had not appeared. As it is, I'm a bit disappointed that it took more than 4 hours...

I came here to learn about beaver observation. 
 

I would have canceled my NCKA subscription if this (or similar) comment had not appeared. As it is, I'm a bit disappointed that it took more than 4 hours...

Always appreciate your high standards Mark

I came here to learn about beaver observation. 
 

I would have canceled my NCKA subscription if this (or similar) comment had not appeared. As it is, I'm a bit disappointed that it took more than 4 hours...

Happy to be of service!   

There are resident beavers in Los Gatos Creek and other creeks in San Jose.  They came down from Lexington Reservoir, where they were re-introduced in the 90's.  It's pretty cool to see the San Jose creeks come alive with salmon and beavers ... and homeless.

-Allen

Oh!  You guys are talking about the other beavers   

CDFW considered beavers a non-native nuisance species in the Sierra Nevadas for decades. Their conclusion was based on old reports from the 1930s and 40s stating as such. I know a now-retired fisheries bio in Indian Valley who pushed CDFG for years to acknowledge that beavers were indeed native to the Sierras. Ancient beaver dams buried in sediment were discovered in the NF Feather watershed. The dams were radiocarbon-dated in 2012, the results of which put them at over a thousand years old. This evidence only came to light a little over a decade ago, and significantly strengthened the case for beavers being native to the Sierras.

In general, CDFW was reluctant to challenge the 1930-40 studies that claimed beavers were not native to the Sierras. One reason for this could be due to politics. Beavers have a habit of building dams and flooding valleys that could be transformed into prime grazing and homesteading land. If beavers were considered native to the Sierras, they'd have to be managed as a native species, which could make trapping and removal of beaver more difficult vs treating them as a non-native species. Now that grazing and homesteading isn't as big of a thing, managing for beaver in the Sierras isn't as politically charged as it used to be.

This is a cool paper for folks interested in learning more about this topic: https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrO7kjov5Vl8ngDphNXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzMEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1705522408/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fnrmsecure.dfg.ca.gov%2fFileHandler.ashx%3fDocumentID%3d183271/RK=2/RS=004w7kgT6SS0FXh7b1e.Kmhchws-

Oh!  You guys are talking about the other beavers   

 

My Dawg.