READ MORE: El Paso has a celebrity beaver and it lives at Rio Bosque Wetlands Park<\/a><\/p>\nPriscilla: Yes, so the first time I took a tour of the Rio Bosque a couple years ago, there was water, quite a bit of water. Because the river is very controlled now, the Rio Bosque Park only gets water from the wastewater treatment plant next door a couple times a year. And, so, this time, when I went back in March, it was a lot drier. That\u2019s because it hasn\u2019t gotten its next flow of water yet. That\u2019ll come maybe in, like, May or June.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, when the water level is down, you can actually see the dams. There\u2019s six dams right now. And if you walk along the old river channel and you just look down at the dry riverbed, you\u2019ll see these big, it looks like woody piles. There\u2019s a bunch of cattails growing over it, kind of like twigs, branches, dried mud, rocks. And you\u2019re like, \u201cWhoa, that\u2019s a beaver dam.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then because the water level is low, you can actually see the dens, too. So, as you\u2019re walking along, you\u2019ll see these holes like, in the riverbanks, and that\u2019s the beaver\u2019s dens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And when you \u2013 I mean, if you were to look inside the hole, I mean, maybe you won\u2019t see it, but there\u2019s actually a little chamber. So, the entrance of the den would be underwater normally. And that\u2019s how the beaver hides from predators, like bobcats or wolves. And then inside the den, there\u2019s a little dry chamber, kind of like a beaver living room, you know? Just dries off, hangs out, chills, snacks on some twigs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: It sounds like he\u2019s been hard at work. I mean, six dams, and they\u2019re pretty large, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah. At least I think they\u2019re noticeable. This beaver is very industrious, as what we think of beavers. They are very hard-working animals. They\u2019re nocturnal. It comes out at night and just works on this dam. And it can build a dam \u2013 like, I think it started off with one dam, and then it built like five in a row one summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: Wow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: So, yes, it\u2019s a very hardworking beaver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775765959_841_Beaver-2022-12-16_08.12pm_cropped.jpg\")
The Rio Bosque beaver in El Paso works downstream at a dam, Dec. 16, 2022. (Courtesy of John Sproul)<\/p>\n
Diego: Yeah. And I think you had a quote in there that a beaver can down a tree or chop through a tree overnight, right? Like they can really go through the wildlife, or the plants, I mean, kind of in their area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah, I mean, the trees that grow native to the Rio Bosque, they\u2019re softer. So, they\u2019re easier to chew and have a lot of nutrients inside the bark for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: And, so, what did you learn about the beaver\u2019s impact on the park broadly? And you had a quote in your piece about beavers kind of being a keystone species that sort of, like, they impact the environment in such a way that they kind of keep everything going for other animals, right? And kind of just have a big impact beyond just their own hunting and gathering or whatever. But I just wonder kind of the broader impact of the beaver at a park like Rio Bosque?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah, so, beavers, I mean \u2013 one wildlife biologist, Ben Padilla, over at the University of Texas at El Paso, he studies mammals there. And he told me it\u2019s a bit like a chicken or egg situation. Like, what came first? The beaver changed the landscape or the beaver disappeared and then the landscape affected the beaver population? They kind of work together.<\/p>\n
And, so, because we have changed our landscape here so much in El Paso, not just with the channelization of the river, but with development, agriculture, increased militarization of the border, like, we have not made it a very habitable place for a beaver here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, so, for a beaver to even just stick around this long, that\u2019s kind of amazing because it\u2019s not that this is the only beaver in town. I want to make that very clear. People have seen beavers. I haven\u2019t personally, but people have seen beavers like in the irrigation ditches or the canals, maybe more so in southern New Mexico swimming around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this beaver has stuck around for quite a few years now and built a home. And I think that\u2019s what makes it different from just other beavers that we\u2019ve seen swimming around while people are fishing or whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: You said that the beaver had to sort of \u2013 like, it took some tenacity to get to the Rio Bosque, right? To kind of navigate El Paso\u2019s urban landscape and arrive at the park at all was kind of a big task for the beaver?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah. Like, before this beaver, it\u2019d been quite a few years since the previous beaver. And the previous ones just came and left. And this one, we don\u2019t know for sure because the beaver\u2019s not tagged or anything, but wildlife biologists think that maybe it came from New Mexico, maybe Las Cruces area, somewhere further up north in the river. And then came down and somehow made its way to the Bosque. And then the likelihood of another beaver showing up there, it\u2019s not impossible, but it\u2019s probably highly unlikely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: Yeah, and that was my next question was, I guess what the park\u2019s managers and biologists have told you about this beaver\u2019s life, right? Like, it\u2019s got this cool home, but you don\u2019t think it\u2019s likely that it\u2019ll have a mate at some point to share the home with? Is that fair to say?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: It\u2019s highly unlikely. So, this beaver is maybe 9 years old now. That\u2019s what we guessed because beavers disperse to form their colonies at 2. And this one\u2019s been at the park for seven years, so it\u2019s probably about 9 years old. And then beavers in the wild only live for like 10 to 12 years. They could live more, but just 10 to 12 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then it took so long for this one beaver to show up. There was, like, a big gap period of no beaver showing up to the bosque. So, what\u2019s the likelihood? I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve been told that once the border wall went up, it\u2019s possible that might impede some of the beaver movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: That\u2019s kind of sad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla:\u00a0 Yeah, I mean, it\u2019d be cool if it could have a mate, if it could start a family and start a colony. But, for now, we can enjoy that just knowing that we at least have one beaver at the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: Yeah, and I\u2019ll follow up with another question. But first, I just want you to explain the beaver deceiver. Like, can you just kind of walk us through what this is and why it\u2019s in place? And I\u2019ll just say it spoke to me, like, the great effort the park\u2019s managers of Rio Bosque have undertaken to accommodate the beaver there at the park. So, just talk through the beaver deceiver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah, so earlier we talked about how the beaver is very industrious, very hardworking. That also comes to repairing its dams. And for the park manager and the volunteers that take care of the park, when the park receives water, they want to get (it) to wetland cells and to flow to different parts of the park. That can\u2019t happen if there are dams blocking the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, when the beaver built its first dam, people working at the park would take out parts of it. And then they would let the water go through. However, that sound of running water triggers the beaver. So, at night, it would come out like, \u201cOh, I have a break in my dam. Like, I need to go take care of this.\u201d And it would patch up the hole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: Time to go to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Right. And then the next day, people at the park would be like, \u201cOh, OK, so it undid our work.\u201d And, for the beaver, it undid that beaver\u2019s work. For the people working at the park, they\u2019re like, \u201cIt undid our work.\u201d So, they would have to go and make more holes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, that is probably not the most efficient way to work with the beaver, to continuously alarm it. So, they installed what\u2019s called a beaver deceiver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like a pipe, and it runs through the dam. And there\u2019s like a cage that goes around it. And essentially it just lets water go through, but quietly. So, there\u2019s not that running water sound that will alarm the beaver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: So, I guess, what did it tell you about like the degree to which they\u2019re willing to do things to accommodate the beaver, right? I mean, that seems like a pretty big step. It was kind of a big underground pipe that\u2019s kind of like running through the park?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah, because in other parts where beavers show up in urban and suburban environments, people are annoyed about beavers damming up their water and basically, they kind of treat beavers like a nuisance sometimes in other places.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And here at the park, they want to take care to work with the beaver. If the beaver wants to stay, they\u2019re not going to kick the beaver out. They\u2019re going to let it stay and they\u2019re going to figure out a way to kind of adapt and still maintain the park while not disturbing the beaver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775765959_98_Great-Blue-Heron.jpg\")
Great blue heron stands over beaver dam #2 in Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, Sep 30, 2022. (Courtesy of John Sproul)<\/p>\n
Diego: Yeah, which is kind of cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I guess, was there anything that you really learned about beavers that surprised you in this story? You said at the top you weren\u2019t super familiar with beavers. I\u2019m not either, right? I don\u2019t really know much about the architecture of beaver dams or all that kind of stuff. So, it\u2019s been interesting to learn from your reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I just wonder if there\u2019s anything that surprised you or that you found particularly interesting about beavers that you learned through the story?<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Well, it\u2019s that the dams aren\u2019t just for the beavers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I found out toward the end of our tour that actually other animals and other wildlife, they use the beaver dams, actually. There\u2019s been footage of other animals crossing the river channel using the dam as a bridge, like a wolf, bobcat, raccoons. They\u2019ll cross using it as a bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also birds. Like, ducks will come because the water gets pooled up behind the dam. And, so, they\u2019ll come and they\u2019ll hang out over there. Birds will go and perch there. Animals will stop there and take a good drink of water. So, it\u2019s not just for the beaver, this dam. It actually affects a lot of wildlife there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775765959_109_Bobcat.jpg\")
Bobcat crosses the gap in a mini beaver dam in the cattails in Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, Jan. 5, 2023. (Courtesy of John Sproul)<\/p>\n
Diego: Wow, that\u2019s really interesting. And just also kind of like I was saying, it\u2019s almost like you can see a little glimpse of maybe the ecosystems that used to exist here, 100, 200 years ago? Before we really kind of developed a river and, like I said, kind of turned it into a system more for water delivery than something to support an ecosystem. But it\u2019s interesting to think a few hundred years ago, maybe there were beaver dams and animals making use of them and things like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Yeah, and the purpose of these dams are to keep water around. And that\u2019s a pretty big deal, living here in a desert, to be able to have pools of water and water collected in places.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: Yeah. So, I mean, just based on your conversations, could we ever see a beaver population sustained in our borderland region, like in any sort of large scale? Or is this just kind of like a lone sojourner, kind of a one-off guy who just kind of happened to make his way there against all odds, like I said, and he\u2019ll just kind of be a resident there for a while? Or is there any hope that we could see maybe more beavers in the future here in El Paso?\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775765960_731_Dam06_2024-06-10a-e1775239429698-1024x719.jpg\")
A bullfrog observes the resident beaver at Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in El Paso pushing mud into one of its dams, June 10, 2024. (Courtesy of John Sproul) <\/p>\n
Priscilla: Well, like I said, there have been beavers spotted up and down the river. So, it\u2019s not the only beaver in town. But the likelihood of having the colonies again, that\u2019s probably unlikely just because of the way the river is set up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have these floodplains. The river used to move around and would create these floodplains where trees can grow and that\u2019s beaver habitat. So, we don\u2019t have a system in place for these beaver habitats to naturally flourish to attract beavers to stick around. That\u2019s our issue. We would have to make a lot of changes, but we want the water for ourselves, for our use as human uses.<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019s very unlikely that will happen. But there are restoration projects that are happening in other places. Arizona\u2019s one of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I think that, something that really stuck with me is that Ben Padilla from UTEP, he talked about beavers existing in urban and suburban environments. And I said, \u201cCool, why is that important? Like, why should we have even beavers in these environments living with us?\u201d And he said, \u201cIt\u2019s important to have wildlife, like, in our human communities because it creates a sense of wonder to be able to even know that a beaver could exist as our neighbor.\u201d And that\u2019s something I really think about a lot of times, like creating that sense of wonder that, \u201cHey, these are animals that used to be all over here.\u201d And it\u2019s nice that there\u2019s still some around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: And it certainly sparked a little wonder in me kind of thinking about just the things that Beaver\u2019s doing to adapt and make this park its home and really make an impact there. It\u2019s interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just the last question here, Priscilla. You seem to have a penchant for reporting on our celebrity wildlife or wildlife celebrities, I should say. You\u2019ve reported on Bob the Goat and the sheep that have been reintroduced here and now the beaver. Just wonder what it is about wildlife that you find so interesting?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: The desert, people think \u2014 who are not from the desert or don\u2019t visit the desert \u2013 they think of this like, barren wasteland full of just rocks and dirt and can\u2019t really sustain a lot of wildlife, and that\u2019s totally wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I moved here from a different desert, the Sonoran Desert area, but this desert, the Chihuahuan Desert, is the most biodiverse desert in the Western Hemisphere. It can sustain a lot of life. And, so, I really want to drill that home. I want people to know that, like, this is your home. Appreciate that we can have so much life here. And I think that, if we don\u2019t spend time going outdoors, even just opening our eyes and looking around, maybe we miss out on that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: I think sometimes it takes outsiders coming to El Paso to point out the things that we locals don\u2019t always appreciate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, anyways, certainly your story did that for me and kind of realizing like, man, I wouldn\u2019t even have guessed that this kind of interesting, unique water-dependent animal could even make a home here. So, just really interesting story, Priscilla. And I\u2019m going to be looking forward to you finding some other unique, interesting animal that lives in the area that you can profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: I also want to shout out all the different organizations that work with conservation here, because I find these stories just because I like, go outdoors, and I take these tours, and there\u2019s like birding groups and there\u2019s Friends of the Rio Bosque, for example. And they\u2019re the ones that tell me all this cool information. So shout out to them because I wouldn\u2019t find these stories if it weren\u2019t for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diego: Sure. Well, thanks for your reporting on this, Priscilla. We\u2019ll leave it there for now, but looking forward to your wildlife reporting in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priscilla: Thanks.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775765959_478_Beaver_2024-05-05-e1775236530598-1024x714.jpg\")
The Rio Bosque beaver in El Paso chews on a Goodding\u2019s willow tree at dam #3, May 5, 2024. (Courtesy of John Sproul)<\/p>\n