As the sun makes its way to the horizon the night crew starts to stir. The beaver group living in the wetlands of Monte Verde Park start their daily or in this case nightly routine. Time to get to work. But only after the evening breakfast of tule roots and cattail stems because everyone needs their morning “Stem-Bucks” on the way to the outdoor office.

Talking to neighbors from the area this group has resided in the creek for at least the last 20 years. Before that some or all of their relatives were trapped and killed. For what particular nuisance reason why is unknown. Clearly the benefits beaver provided to the area then was overlooked looking at the green vegetation & other numerous animals that the area supports today during a drought. One neighbor remembers a reaction of shock when talking to the trapper who was in the process of removing traps & beaver carcasses from the area those many years ago. California Fish & Wildlife does not issue permits for relocating beaver instead they urge the public to:

Please consider living with beavers to help support California beaver populations and their benefits to terrestrial and aquatic habitat.

(From the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife website, Keep Me Wild: Beaver).

There are many examples & actual stories of how this can be successfully done but if the landowner, public or private, decides to take what appears to be the easier option of trapping & killing, CA Fish & Wildlife will issue the requested permits. Placer County has had the record of issuing the greatest number of permits than any other county in California. However, from the example of Monte Verde Park (and many others) trapping is not a permanent solution and not the most economical for many reasons this site will explore in future posts. With the stresses of drought, climate change, and development planned on all sides of the Monte Verde wetlands our beaver family has an uncertain future. In fact the wetland animals & habitat itself depend so much on the water-retaining, land-shaping work of the beaver, that their future is also in jeopardy. We will record their story here.

Meet the beaver family of Monte Verde Park below.