There are moves afoot to bring back beavers to our local creeks, and the Sierra Club is one of its advocates.
“When I was growing up my dad and I would often hike and horse pack into the Sespe Creek region and we saw beavers everywhere,” said our Conservation Director and chapter vice-chair Jim Hines.
“But today there are no known beavers left in Ventura county waterways while there still are in Santa Barbara County waterways.”
Hines found out that it is illegal to reintroduce beavers in California. “So, the Sierra Club California Wildlife Team is starting a new campaign to get state policy makers to change that,” he said.
A post in Wikipedia noted there is a picture of a beaver at Painted Rock in the Cuyama River watershed, there is a Chumash shaman’s rain-making kit made from the skin of a beaver tail, Chumash tribes also had a beaver dance and there is a Beaver Campground on Sespe Creek.
“Taken together, these facts support the hypothesis that beaver ranged throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties,” noted Wikipedia.
Also, in the post are reports that a fire crew chief saw beaver dams above Beaver Camp in 1970 and Alasdair Coyne of Keep the Sespe Wild reports seeing a beaver dam at Willett Hot Springs in 2000.
In its latest issue, Sierra Magazine published an article entitled: “Beavers are Firefighters Who Work for Free” with the subhead, “Is it time to rethink beaver relocation bans?” Read it here:
https://tinyurl.com/BringBackBeavers
Hines said beavers are important for to healthy ecosystems and wildfire prevention.
Also, Camarillo resident Dr. Emily Fairfax is quoted in the article and she will be working with the new team on this issue, Hines said.
As a young PhD student, Fairfax noted a small patch of green at the center of Idaho’s Sharps Fire. “Why is there an impressive patch of green in the middle of 65,000 acres of charcoal? Turns out water doesn't burn. Thank you beaver!” wrote Wheaton.
That started her on a research project that she hopes will change California’s strict rules around beaver relocation.