Frustrated by beaver chewing or flooding?
What is the conflict?
Humans often kill beavers when their damming and tree-chewing behaviors cause problems such as flooding and destroyed vegetation. This approach is ineffective because new beavers will soon move into the empty habitat. Lethal trapping, dam destruction, and culvert unclogging are only temporary solutions that, in the long-run, are expensive and unsustainable.
How is coexistence possible?
Beavers and the wetland habitats they create are beneficial to people, plants, animals, and entire landscapes and watersheds. We believe it is possible for people to share land with live beavers while addressing flooding and tree-chewing problems using long-term, cost-effective solutions.
Lessons Learned: Habitat Compensation Program Challenges
HBCF recently decided to terminate our habitat compensation program. We want to share the reasons why, because we believe that we learn as much (or more) from ‘failures’ as we do from our successes. Ultimately, we struggled with two main issues: We struggled to find applicants that fit within the program criteria. The program was limited…
BeaverCorps Scholarships Available!
One of the Human-Beaver Coexistence Fund’s long-term goals is to build capacity by training others in the Mid-Atlantic region in flow device design and installation. Thanks to the Joseph Robert Foundation, HBCF has scholarship funding available for BeaverCorps applicants in Maryland and Washington D.C. About BeaverCorps: “The Beaver Institute is proud to offer the first…
How Beavers Cause Floods to Prevent Flood Damage
It sounds counterintuitive, yes. First, a quick refresher: Beavers do not build dams to protect our towns and cities from flooding. They do so to create ponds that are deep enough to keep themselves and their families safe from predators and harsh winter conditions. Sometimes they build one big dam, sometimes a series of smaller…
Be a Beaver Hero in the Mid-Atlantic: BeaverCorps Program Information
BeaverCorps Wetland Professionals is a program offered by Beaver Institute, a national nonprofit working to empower “individuals and organizations to succeed in beaver management, coexistence, communication, education, and scientific research.” Participants learn innovative beaver management techniques that have been used successfully for many years to resolve human-beaver conflicts. HBCF Director, Alison Zak, completed the training…