Oregon's beaver renaissance: Conservation efforts help landowners coexist with the ultimate keystone species

Beavers are making a comeback in Oregon. No, we’re not talking about the beleaguered OSU football team—but the fuzzy, semiaquatic rodent species: the North American beaver.

Beavers are nature’s ultimate “ecosystem engineers,” but the structures they build aren’t always embraced by humans because of threats of flooding or other damage. Now, conservation groups are helping people learn how to co-exist with beavers.

The Mid-Willamette Beaver Partnership is a regional group of partners that works to promote healthy landscapes and communities by restoring and enhancing beaver habitat; addressing beaver-human conflicts with alternatives to trapping; and showcasing positive relationships between humans and beavers.

Where the wild things are

At a remote site outside of Sweet Home, a beaten tra