PAULINA, Ore. \u2014 A storm tore down gates to a years-long restoration project along the Crooked River meant to attract and sustain beavers earlier this year. But the storm proved that the project worked \u2014 beavers are back, rebuilding wetlands and bringing new life to the area.<\/p>\n
What is now a lush, green, riparian paradise of beaver food and building materials didn\u2019t always look like it does now.<\/p>\n
It began seven years ago when volunteers planted thousands of bare sticks of aspen, cottonwood and willow along the banks of the South Fork of the Crooked River. The plantings were fenced off so they could grow and mature to the point they could survive being chewed on by nature\u2019s engineers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this is yummy, primo beaver food. They\u2019ll just eat it like a little spaghetti, you know, the whole thing,\u201d Oregon Natural Desert Association restoration coordinator Jefferson Jacobs said.<\/p>\n
The plan was to leave the fences up longer to keep beavers, deer, wild horses and all manner of wildlife from mowing the tender plants down. But massive floodwaters in the spring of 2025 ripped down the fences and opened the vegetarian buffet ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe flood took out all the fences,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cBeavers moved in because there was all this yummy vegetation to eat that we planned for them. And they mowed it all down. And I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d<\/p>\n
They built a dam. They built a den. And then they had babies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had two kits this year. And that\u2019s the final vote of confidence,\u201d Jacobs said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Jacobs describes this as passive-aggressive restoration. The aggressive part is planting the vegetation that attracts and sustains beavers. The passive part is letting beavers do what they do \u2014 cut down trees, build dams and back up water, which percolates into the surrounding soil where it is cleaned and cooled by the earth, increasing groundwater tables and improving riparian habitat.<\/p>\n
Both the passive and aggressive processes take time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey built a dam on the beaver dam and along the human-made dam we made. They\u2019re eating the vegetation we planted for them. They set up their house immediately across from the best vegetation that we planted. And then they had babies. I mean, you can\u2019t get more of a slam dunk than that,\u201d Jacobs said.<\/p>\n
There have been several efforts to restore this section of the Crooked River, including fencing out livestock for 20 years to allow vegetation to regrow on its own. But none did. It turns out the hydraulic functions of the river are so impaired that the plantings, unless placed right next to the stream, dry out due to lack of water.<\/p>\n
One willow bush found at the site has clearly been chewed on by the beavers, but it is so well established that it survives, regenerates and provides more vegetation for the beavers to eat, build dams and continue restoring this South Fork of the Crooked River.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important that folks know that this is not just about fish. It\u2019s not just about wildlife. It\u2019s about people, too. And there are people making their living downstream that need this water. And this will help provide them more water through the drought years and through the lean months in the summer,\u201d Jacobs said.<\/p>\n
We were fortunate to be there as Jacobs cut open a section of fence protecting a willow thicket that was planted in 2017. It\u2019s now a beaver buffet. This one area where beavers have gotten established, built a dam and backed up water for a few hundred feet represents a drop in the bucket of the work that remains to be done to restore this watershed. But it serves as a glowing example of how people can work with nature to improve habitat, clean and cool the water, reduce fire danger and increase stream flows.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust had a tour out here with Soil and Water Conservation District people, a local rancher, federal folks and some state folks. And they were really impressed by what they saw and were taking some lessons away from that. We\u2019ll be cooperating with some other nonprofits on helping them implement some projects similarly,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cSo the example is serving its purpose. It\u2019s the best messenger. I can show you statistics or something like that, but nothing says success like coming out and seeing water amongst the sagebrush and, you know, all these willows and cottonwoods grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
More restoration projects are planned in the spring of 2026. Volunteers who are willing to camp out for a few days, get muddy planting bare sticks and build fences around future willow and cottonwood groves are welcome. Visit the Oregon Natural Desert Association website<\/a> for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PAULINA, Ore. \u2014 A storm tore down gates to a years-long restoration project along the Crooked River meant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[16651,3729,3,48407,79,48405,48406,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-290669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-email","9":"tag-local","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pets-animals-nature","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-the-great-outdoors","14":"tag-weekly-features","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}