The Human Beaver Coexistence Fund (HBCF) educates the public about the benefits of coexisting with beavers and provides resources and financial support to address human-beaver conflict using nonlethal management strategies.
Our Values
- We demonstrate compassion for all living beings, and celebrate the inherent, ecological, and cultural value of living beavers.
- We acknowledge our human interconnectedness with nature, other species, and ecosystems on a local, regional, and global scale.
- We respect landowner decisions.
- We believe that a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, color, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other identity, is what makes human-beaver coexistence possible.
We accomplish our mission by helping to implement projects of two types:
Tree Protection to prevent beaver-chewing and felling
Flow Device Installation to address flooding damage caused by beaver damming behavior.
Learn more about flow devices.
We also share information and resources, on the ground and online, to educate communities about the benefits of and strategies for coexisting with beavers.
We currently serve Washington D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic states Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia via onsite or remote consultations.
(Not in our geographic range? Find a beaver professional near you.)
Why Our Mission Matters
We aspire to create healthy landscapes by transforming watersheds into biodiverse, self-replenishing, high-quality water-catchments with a focus on the coexistence of two keystone species, humans and beavers. Coexisting with beavers provides many benefits for humans, native plants and wildlife, and the landscape, including:
- Stream repair & restoration
- Erosion reduction
- Increased biodiversity
- Creation of habitat for wetland species, including some whose conservation status is under threat
- Beaver ponds recharge aquifers and stabilize the water table
- Beaver dams regulate stream flow which in turn mitigates flooding
- Beaver dams also improve water quality by filtering pollutants and sediment
- Beaver-created wetlands play a role in helping to mitigate certain effects of climate change, such as increasingly frequent severe weather events that result in major floods, droughts, and wildfires.
