Services

Flow Devices and Exclusion Fences

​Flow devices put a permanent leak through a beaver dam and regulate the beaver pond to a desired height. And they work! Exclusion fences alone or paired with a flow device add another layer of protection and save money.

Tree Protection

It's no secret that beavers are master tree fellers.  Mesh enclosures and sand painting make trees hard to reach and unpalatable.

​

Beaver Dam Analogues

BDA's mimic the dam building of beavers to aggrade incised streams, slow down water and create small wetlands. They also create great habitat for beavers before they arrive.
​

Solutions based on a solid assessment
Because every site is different we perform a thorough assessment of the site and the conditions governing it. And most importantly, we make decisions based on what your goals are.  You can rest assured that we have considered all of the underlying variables to provide a site-specific solution that will meet your objectives over the long-term.

A bit about beavers
          Castor canadensis, once ubiquitous in North America, continue to make an historic recovery after the near-extirpation of their species in the late 19th century.  As fur felt hats fell out of favor, beavers were able to mount a resurgence from isolated populations that historical trappers never pursued, and with the concerted efforts of state and federal agencies in Canada and the United States.  Fanning out to reoccupy their historical territories in wider and wider circles, they frequently come in contact with a drastically altered landscape from the one in which they originally inhabited.  When their numbers become significant enough to push them into places that are occupied by humans, the potential for conflict becomes unavoidable. 
          Thankfully, there are solutions that not only mitigate the flooding hazards presented by dam building but also allow the beavers to remain on the land so that the myriad benefits of their ecological engineering and wetland creation can be realized. The Great Lakes Basin alone has lost around 70% of its original wetlands.  And while construction of new wetlands with heavy machinery, environmental engineering expertise and big price tags is sometimes necessary, beavers can create wetlands at a fraction of those costs. 
          Our society has come to appreciate the value of wetlands and the negative consequences associated with their decline.  Wetlands are considered to be one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. They store and release water on timetables that allow for groundwater recharge and flood abatement. They filter toxins, cycle nutrients and sequester carbon. 
​         Many species depend on wetlands, and wetlands evolved in place over the millenia, in some parts due to the ceaselessly eager activity of beavers. Trout and salmon, wood ducks and egrets, and a whole host of reptiles and amphibians are just a few of the benefactors of beaver-built landscapes. How influential this one species has been on the overall structure of landforms and lifeforms on the North American continent may never be known.
         But what we do know is that the entirety of the continent below the Arctic Circle, excepting the Great Basin and some parts of Florida, was the territory of the beaver and their works. The much maligned, tree felling water rat nearly found its way onto the lengthening list of names chopped off the block that represents the most biodiverse era in Earth's storied and sordid history.  And while we may be in the midst of the sixth extinction, beavers are here to stick around for a while.  To the benefit of many.    
The largest beaver dam in the world is a half-mile long and was discovered by a researcher using Google Earth.  That's right, it can be seen from space!  The area it occupies lies within Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada. Photo courtesy of Parks Canada
Picture
​


All photos courtesy of Justin Jendza and Beaver Leavers except where noted