Expedition: Flycatchers and Beavers

Southwestern willow flycatcher nest an eggs. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service

As beaver remodel streams, building dams and ponds and channels, eating willows and cutting large trees, does all of that "remodeling" damage  riparian habitat or improve it?  And what if the riparian area is occupied by an endangered species with very specific habitat requirements? 

These were the questions posed by the Lincoln County Nevada Habitat Conservation Plan, the County Commissioners, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher.  To answer their questions, Institute staff traveled to Nevada on Expedition Flycatcher & Beaver, a journey made more complicated, of course, by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We would need to travel many miles, and flying was out of the question. We would need to protect ourselves and others around us.  We would need to see the habitat, the beaver's work, and the people living and working there. Our destination was Meadow Valley Wash, one of the few remaining desert riparian areas in the Southwest.

"Usually beaver are a plus for flycatcher habitat" is not good enough when you are dealing with an endangered species, where every egg and every bird counts. There is no room for error.  Whether beaver can help build habitat or damage  indeed depends on the circumstances of each site.  Beaver remodeling nearly always looks like demolition to our human eyes, but looks like luxury remodeling to the plants, fish and wildlife that inhabit the riparian corridor.

And so we drove the many miles, camping in remote and spectacular areas until we reached the Wash.  In the midst of a fierce heat wave, the sun hit the rock walls of the Wash canyon and slammed back on to our cheeks. The glue holding the name plate on the Institute's truck melted, leaving the name plate to fall off, clatter and bounce on the baked dirt as hard as a table top.  A heat wave would not stop us, but yeah, it slowed us down.

It was worth it every scorching minute to make a contribution to the recovery of the Southwestern willow flycatcher. The flycatcher needs dense undergrowth and standing water or saturated soils, and so here in Meadow Valley Wash, beaver are just the remodeling the designer ordered. Because beaver will whip up standing water and dense undergrowth with no sawdust, no fuss and best of all, almost no charge.

Almost, though is an important qualifier. Because the flycatcher is not the only user of the Wash. Some trees will have to be wrapped and some flow devices will have to be installed. The Institute has prepared a beaver management plan for Meadow Valley Wash and we hope to return and work with the great people there to implement the plan when conditions allow.