Find the Latest Beaver Info
There is a robust network of individuals, agencies, and landowners working toward non-lethal management and beaver coexistence. Looking for more information about how beaver coexistence benefits western lands? Explore our comprehensive collection to find policy updates and resources.
Beaver Coexistence Resources
Beaver restoration and non-lethal management guides
- Doty Ravine Demonstration Site in Lincoln, CA (Owned and managed by Placer Land Trust). This site is one of California’s best examples of how beaver co-existence and inexpensive process-based restoration techniques can increase wetland area by 1200% in five years for under $60K.
- Beaver in California, Creating a Culture of Stewardship by Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, 2018
- Landowners’ Guide to Nonlethal Beaver Solutions: How to Help Beavers and Benefit from Them at the Same Time by Animal Protection of New Mexico, 2012
- Report on the Efficacy and Comparative Costs of Using Flow Devices to Resolve Conflicts with North American Beavers along Roadways in the Coastal Plain of Virginia, submitted by Stephanie Boyles, Christopher Newport Univ., 2006
- Beavers in the San Joaquin Valley by Sustainable Conservation, 2024
- Beaver – Our Watershed Partner by Lorne Fitch, Cows and Fish, 2016
- The Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT)
- The Beaver Restoration Guidebook: Working with Beaver to Restore Streams, Wetlands, and Floodplains by Gregory Lewallen, Chris Jordan, Kent Woodruff, Michael Pollock, Janine Castro, 2023
- Beaver Restoration Toolbox: A Collection of Insights, Resources and Expert Contacts to Guide Riparian Restoration Projects that Capitalize on the Engineering Capacity of the North American Beaver by Karl Malcolm, 2013
- Build Like A Beaver, Kevin Swift of Swift Water Design
- Design Criteria for Process-Based Restoration of Fluvial Systems by Damion Ciotti, Jared Mckee, Karen Pope, G Mathias Kondolf, Michael Pollock, 2021
- Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration of Riverscapes: Design Manual by Joe Wheaton, Stephen Bennett, Nick Bouwes, Jeremy Maestas, Scott Shahverdian, 2019
- Planning for Beavers Manual: Anticipating Beavers Designing Restoration Projects, prepared by Jen Vanderhoof, King County Water and Land Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 2022
- Working with Beaver for Better Habitat Naturally by Sherri Tippie, Wildlife 2000, 2010
Beaver Benefits
- Beaver and Climate Change Adaptation in North America: A Simple, Cost-Effective Strategy by WildEarth Guardians, Grand Canyon Trust, and The Lands Council, 2011
- Beaver as a Climate Change Adaptation Tool: Concepts and Priority Sites in New Mexico by Cathryn Wild, Seventh Generation Institute, 2011
- Beaver and Process-Based Restoration Build Momentum in California! by Kate Lundquist, Brock Dolman, Hannah Wilton, 2022
- Smokey the Beaver: beaver-dammed riparian corridors stay green during wildfire throughout the western United States by Emily Fairfax, Andrew Whittle (Ecological Applications, 2020)
- Beavers—Printable Mini-Zine by Fiona Barnacle, 2023
- The Beaver: Its Life and Impact (second edition), by Dietland Müller-Schwarze, 2011
- The Beaver Manifesto by Glynnis Hood, 2011
- Beavers, Meadows, and Climate Change in Childs Meadow, California, Project Contact Sarah Yarnell, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences
- Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip, 2022
- Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb, 2018
- The Effect of Beaver (Castor canadensis) Removal on Total Phosphorus Concentration in Taylor Creek and Wetland, South Lake Tahoe, California by Sarah Muskopf, 2007
- Geomorphic Changes Upstream of Beaver dams in Bridge Creek, an Incised Stream Channel in the interior Columbia River Basin, Eastern Oregon by Michael Pollock, Timothy Beechie, and Chris Jordan, 2007
- Hydrologic and Geomorphic Effect of Beaver Dams and Their Influence on Fishes by Michael Pollock, Morgan Heim, Danielle Werner (American Fisheries Society Symposium 37, 2003)
- The Importance of Beaver Ponds to Coho Salmon Production in the Stillaguamish River Basin, Washington, USA by Michael Pollock, George Pess, Timothy Beechie and David Montgomery (North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 2004)
- Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver by Frances Backhouse, 2016
- Persistence at Distributional Edges: Columbia Spotted Frog Habitat in the Arid Great Basin, USA by Robert Arkle, David Pilliod, 2015
- Relationships between Willow Flycatcher and Beaver-Modified Stream Reaches in Sierra Nevada Montane Meadows. Report to The Nature Conservancy by Brent Campos, Helen Loffland, Ryan Burnett, 2019
Beaver Sightings and Distribution in California
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife California Beaver Observation Survey: Report beaver signs and sightings on CDFW’s Beaver Observation Survey website and participate in crowd-sourced science throughout California. All reported data will be available to CDFW Beaver Restoration Program staff as they compile a beaver presence database, which will ensure a better understanding of the current range of beaver throughout California. Public access to this dynamic dataset is not currently available. However, CDFW’s interactive map depicts the current known range of beaver in California, based on the best data available to CDFW’s Beaver Restoration Project team.
- iBeaver: Download the iBeaver app to report sightings of beaver and beaver signs such as dams, lodges, tree chews, tracks, and coexistence efforts. Specific location data is available to researchers, and the general public can review beaver sightings in this easy to navigate map.
- iNaturalist: Download the iNaturalist app to report and track beaver sightings near you. Precise beaver sighting locations can be recorded and shared or obscured depending on user interest. iNaturalist’s public map makes it easy to navigate and review entries.
Historical range of beaver in California
- Novel Physical Evidence That Beaver Historically Were Native to the Sierra Nevada by Charles James, Richard Lanman (California Fish and Game 98:129-132, 2012)
- The Historic Range of Beaver in the Sierra Nevada: A Review of the Evidence by Richard Lanman, Heidi Perryman, Brock Dolman, Charles James (California Fish and Game 98:65-80, 2012)
- The Historical Range of Beaver (Castor canadensis) in Coastal California: An Updated Review of the Evidence by Christopher Lanman, Kate Lundquist, Heidi Perryman, Eli Asarian, Brock Dolman, Richard Lanman, Michael Pollock (California Fish and Game 99:193-221, 2013)
- The Historic Range of Beaver in the North Coast of California: A Review of the Evidence by Kate Lundquist, Brock Dolman, Richard Lanman, Michael Pollock, Jeff Baldwin 2013
Beaver advocates and organizations
- The Beaver Institute, Adam Burnett (MA)
- Beaver Management Forum (Facebook)
- The California Process-Based Restoration Network (CA)
- Fairfield Beavers, Virginia Holsworth (CA)
- Mid Klamath Watershed Council, Will Harling (CA)
- National Wildlife Federation
- Occidental Arts and Ecology Center WATER Institute, Kate Lundquist & Brock Dolman (CA)
- Scott River Watershed Council, Charnna Gilmore (CA)
- Sierra Wildlife Coalition, Sherry Guzzi (CA, NV)
- SLO Beaver Brigade, Audrey Taub (CA)
- Tule River Tribe Beaver Project (CA)
- Worth A Dam, Heidi Perryman (CA)
Beaver films
- Beavers and Flooding: A Stop Motion Story by Alison Zak, 2024
- Beavers and Wildfire: A stop-motion story by Dr. Emily Fairfax, 2019
- Beaver: Back to the Future by Sarah Koenigsberg, Tensegrity Productions, 2015
- Beaver Believers by Sarah Koenigsberg, Tensegrity Productions, 2018
- Leave It To Beavers by Jari Osborn, 2014
- One Stick at a Time by The 10 Decades Project and Sarah Koenigsberg, 2017
Did You Spot a Beaver?
Help us improve our understanding of beaver distribution across California by reporting your observation. Your input supports statewide conservation, coexistence strategies, and watershed restoration efforts.