Beaver relocation success with Wishpush Working Group
By Dave Ryan, MARS Monitoring Coordinator
Photos by Vaughan Gilmore, Yakama Nation Fisheries
Wishpush Working Group (WWG) recently received a call from the WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) about a beaver that was trapped in an irrigation ditch near Yakima, WA. It was unknown how long it was stuck there, but reports indicated that it was very fatigued, stressed, and likely did not have access to food for an extended period of time. We were asked if we could take this distressed beaver, nurture it, and rehome it. The answer was an emphatic yes.
Wishpush Working Group is a collaborative that includes the Yakama Nation, Mt. Adams Resource Stewards, Mid-Columbia Fisheries, and Underwood Conservation District and other beaver friends. Our mission is to support and promote sustainable populations of beavers for a host of ecological benefits, leading to healthier and more resilient watersheds for the benefit of fish, wildlife, and human communities. We do this via a four-pronged approach: retain, restore, rehome, reach out.
We work with landowners to retain beavers where appropriate through technical and material assistance to reduce conflicts with people and encourage peaceful coexistence where possible. WWG and partners engage in ecosystem restoration projects to restore habitat that is suitable for beavers and other species. Despite all the benefits they provide the natural environment, WWG recognizes that co-existence is not always feasible and that beavers can have negative impacts for landowners. Through the WDFW statewide beaver relocation program, we can live-trap, house, and relocate beavers in situations where they are at risk of lethal removal to areas where their work benefits habitat and hydrology. We also work to increase awareness and tolerance of beavers and their activities through outreach efforts that provide information and offer training and volunteer opportunities to the public about beavers.
This particular beaver was caught humanely by WDFW staff and transported to the approved, purpose-built, WWG beaver-holding facility in Klickitat County. Based on its size and weight, this beaver is a juvenile or sub-adult. Determining the sex of a beaver is difficult, invasive, and stressful. It is generally unnecessary to do so unless trying to pair them, so we did not attempt it.
Upon intake, this beaver was obviously fatigued and stressed from its ordeals. WWG members remained in communication with state wildlife veterinarians and other beaver professionals throughout the rehabilitation period. We tended to our furry guest’s needs and nurtured it back to health with a lap pool, cozy lodge, its favorite fresh foods, and rest. Over the course of a few days, it went from lethargy to activity, from eating very little to eating quite a lot. It was gratifying to witness this recovery and prepared to release it to a new home.
The release site was a location on private property where the Yakama Nation and Mt. Adams Resource Stewards had worked together to marry an upland forest health treatment nearby (thinning conifers for an oak release) with a low-tech, process-based, streamscape restoration project (putting woody structures such as beaver dam analogs, or BDAs, back in the stream channel) to improve habitat and restore natural stream processes. Potential beaver release sites are vetted through habitat assessments that account for beaver food availability, security, water quantity & quality, and landowner acceptance and acknowledgment.
As our endearing guest was released, we got choked up as we watched it enter the water—tentatively at first-- then quietly glide away to fully be a beaver in a place where it is welcome.
For more information on beavers and the Wishpush Working Group please visit: https://www.midcolumbiafisheries.org/wishpush-working-group
If you have a beaver conflict and are seeking assistance for co-existence or relocation, please contact David Ryan, Monitoring Coordinator: Mt. Adams Resource Stewards. dave@mtadamsstewards.org, 503.440.5263
