In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, officials have found an unexpected partner in the fight against flooding — the state’s namesake animal: the beaver.
According to KPTV, conservationists are inviting beavers back to creeks and wetlands in the Portland metro area, where their dams are already transforming farmland and suburban streams into thriving ecosystems. These natural structures don’t just provide homes for birds and fish — they also help protect nearby communities from damaging floods.
“We saw it as an opportunity to kind of invite [the beavers] back in,” said Mike Conroy, a habitat conservation specialist with the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District, per KPTV. “And then we get all the benefits from the beaver dams, like creating all that wildlife habitat … storing water up on the floodplain, making the water filter through their dams and really interact with the soil before it moves on its way out to the Willamette and the Columbia.”…