Thanks to conservation efforts, a river in Oregon has become a habitat for local beavers for the first time in more than 100 years.
Families of beavers have been spotted along the riverbed of the Crooked River in central Oregon and are being monitored by the nonprofit Oregon Natural Desert Association, according to The Bulletin.
The beavers are native to the area, but they were first driven out by hunters in the 1800s, who traded their pelts and severely damaged the beaver population. Following that, settlers built ranches along the river, which altered the species' natural habitat.
Since 2014, local conservation groups have been managing habitat restoration projects to attract beavers back into the region. It's been successful, as the new beaver residents migrated to the river on their own.
"They haven't been living on that section of the river from year-to-year, and reproducing, for over a hundred years — up to 200 years," said Jefferson Jacobs, riparian restoration manager with ONDA, per The Bulletin.
"They were always passing through, but they would keep on going because it was horrible habitat. There wasn't anything for them to eat in winter once the grasses and flowers had died off."
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The conservationists realized that the beavers needed more vegetation as a food source to make the riverbed hospitable for them. ONDA planted thousands of plants and trees nearby to strengthen the ecosystem.
Jacobs said that a pair of beavers moved into the area and workers noticed that they had reproduced, which is a sign of their fitness for longevity and "a real metric for success."
Beavers are a great asset to biodiversity in bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes. The dams they build can positively impact water quality, reducing pollution and limiting the spread of disease.
Because they're so valuable to the environment and other wildlife, there has been a lot of effort to increase the beaver population and reintroduce them to wetland regions. Thankfully, much of this has been successful, as has been seen in Oregon.
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Dedicated conservation and restoration projects are crucial for preserving threatened and endangered species, but they also help wildlife return to their native areas and revive healthy and diverse ecosystems.
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