Have Beavers Moved Into Your Neighborhood?

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Living in the Pacific Northwest, we sometimes take water for granted. Because of ample annual rainfall, our landscape is crisscrossed with rivers and streams and dotted with lakes, ponds and wetlands. Often we’ve built our roads, homes and businesses over and around these water features, sometimes out of necessity and sometimes entirely because we treasure the aesthetics water provides. Many newer developments have portions of land set aside in stream or wetland buffers that protect these features and also provide open spaces that can offer some natural relief in an otherwise built-out landscape. As beaver populations rebound across the Pacific Northwest, it is exactly these types of environments they are moving into.

When a beaver chooses to make your local stream or neighborhood wetland its home, the signs may be subtle at first… some chewed branches here and there… a little more water than you remembered last year... one or two trees looking slightly brown as their roots get wet. Before long, a beaver family may have a stream system fully dammed and can bring down several small trees in a single night of work. It’s usually not until homes, roads and other property are significantly impacted that most landowners and managers really focus on the animal causing these changes.

If beavers have room to live without causing trouble, it is best to leave them be. However, if beaver activity is causing dangerous conditions or property damage, action should be taken. In the past, one option to reduce these impacts was to hire a trapper to remove beavers. While trapping is still an option that some pursue, many landowners and managers are choosing alternatives that leave beavers right where they are.

Beavers Northwest can help you find the right solution to your beaver conflicts. We specialize in providing technical advice and assistance to property owners who are experiencing beaver conflicts. We focus on non-lethal management options to alleviate flooding and property damage without harming beavers. Learn more at the below links and contact us for consultation and other answers.