Program to reduce conflicts with beavers keeping nature’s ‘engineers’ on the job

Beavers are, by definition, rodents. That classification, though, might not do justice to the semiaquatic creatures, often called “ecosystem engineers” by biologists. In Montana, for instance and according to the National Wildlife Federation, beavers create wetlands that support more than 80% of the state’s wildlife..

For decades, problematic beavers that created dams in inconvenient places for humans were trapped and relocated — or worse. But removing one of these engineers from the landscape was never a long-term fix. Soon, another beaver would come along and rebuild. Elissa Chott, the National Wildlife Federation’s Montana Beaver Conflict Resolution Program team lead, said building dams is a natural instinct that beavers cannot simply turn off.

“A roadway over a creek or a ditch is re