U.S. News

While Western forestry experts accept some wildfire as redemption for the landscape, they’ve also learned that out-of-control megafires can do more harm than good. Now a new study puts a spotlight on the small, cartoon-cute creatures ready to serve as a stalwart defense against raging, 100,000-acre firestorms: the humble, hardworking beaver.

River segments hosting beaver-created dams fared far better during and after megafires than riverscapes without beaver activity, leaving pockets of intact habitat crucial for wildlife, and protecting waterways from runaway erosion, a study published in The Geological Society of America in January found.

Using a combination of infrared and optical satellite imagery, as well as field observations, a team of nine scientists assessed the burn severity along streams within the fire scars. They then compared reaches of stream that had beaver dams to stretches without, and to the surrounding forest.

“Beaver-modified riverscapes are resistant to megafire-scale disturbance,” the authors wrote. “This resilience is directly attributable to beaver dam- and canal-building activity.”