Beavers, our partners in keeping precious water on the landscape to fight drought and climate change, need a permanent home, and you can help give them one in Beaver Valley! The Scott River Watershed, in far Northern California, was called Beaver Valley by the first white settlers due to the extensive beaver colonies and their associated lush wetlands.
Help us provide them with a safe haven in their historic homeland. Once the purchase is complete, all development rights will be retired. Restoration work has already begun and the property will serve as an outdoor learning center for our youth educational program.
Beavers have been part of the Scott Valley landscape since the distant past and are making a comeback after near extinction from the fur trade and other human activities. However, they still face many challenges here, as they do everywhere, such as continued hunting and removal as nuisances. The Scott River Watershed Council has an option to buy a property with known beaver occupation. Along with beaver, the property supports Coho salmon, an endangered salmon, which is not surprising as Coho evolved to flourish in beaver-dominated landscapes.
Beaver Haven Property drone footage taken on November 3, 2022 by Joey Howard at Cascade Stream Solutions.
Creating Beaver Haven - Restoration for Life
Northstate Giving Tuesday is November 28, 2023
We are asking for your support for one of our greatest projects to date: BEAVER HAVEN
Our goal is to purchase Sugar Creek property in Etna, CA, and place it into permanent conservation ownership. This will provide a BEAVER HAVEN
for these amazing creatures- a safe harbor to rear their young to disperse to new locations while storing water to fight drought and creating
habitat for Coho and birds, bears, mountain lions, frogs, and numerous other animals.
This delightful and smiling crew from the Scott River Watershed Council (SRWC) has much to be happy about. It has been a very productive year for this highly motivated group and while they are wrapping up some of their projects for this year, the seasonal nature of what they do keeps them busy ALL year. Some may not know the full scope of their work, which includes projects that benefit the animal and the human communities simultaneously and even more over time as the successes take root and give rebirth to ecosystems.
Besides working like beaver to create slow water habitat on Sugar Creek as shown here in the photo above, a few of their other projects include water quality and quantity improvements in the French, Sugar, and Patterson Creek areas, as well as the Scott River using a variety of techniques that provide better instream conditions, improve habitat, and encourage fish rearing, thus tying together the function of aquatic ecosystems. SRWC also works with local, regional, state, and federal partners such as private landowners, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the North Coast Regional Partnership, Klamath National Forest, and CAL FIRE to bring innovative projects using prescribed burning and Biochar to reduce catastrophic wildfires and to promote resilient forest health.
The realization that monitoring and evaluating the effects of their work is evident and supported by their dedication to documenting outcomes, followed by adaptive management.