beavers

When beavers build dams, they help create habitat for other species. But when they build near humans, those dams aren’t always appreciated. Some humans are trying to strike a balance between their needs and the beavers’.

Hundreds of millions of beavers used to populate the West but were hunted to near extinction. Turns out, beavers are critical to healthy water ecosystems, so now there are efforts to bring them back.

It took the threat of a lawsuit, but a federal agency is no longer killing the Beaver State’s beavers. Environmental groups had challenged the practice in Oregon because, they said, it’s a threat to more than just the state animal. Like much in the Northwest, it touches on salmon.