A new statewide beaver management plan is in the works in Colorado, with a focus on keeping more beavers on the landscape and expanding tools to help people coexist with the animals often dubbed “nature’s engineers.”
The Upper Colorado Watershed Environmental Team shared in a recent social media post that it hopes to eventually establish a beaver quarantine and relocation facility in Grand County. The facility would allow wildlife managers to safely move beavers away from conflict areas, such as roadways or golf courses, and reintroduce them into more suitable habitats.
One of the key coexistence tools highlighted in beaver management is the “beaver deceiver,” a flow device designed to prevent flooding without removing the animals.
Installed in and around beaver dams, these systems use fencing and piping to regulate water levels by allowing water to pass through the dam at a controlled rate. Because the intake is spread out and difficult for beavers to detect or block, the animals are less likely to attempt repairs.
Beaver deceivers help protect infrastructure like roads and culverts while preserving the ecological benefits of beaver activity, including improved water storage, wetland creation and enhanced wildlife habitat.
Colorado is working on a new beaver management plan, which will include keeping more beavers alive and using mitigation strategies to help humans coexist with our furry water engineers. In the future, UCWET hopes to bring a beaver quarantine and relocation facility to Grand County, in case they need to move beavers away from roads or golf courses into a different neighborhood. Upper Colorado Watershed Environmental Team/Courtesy image