Eager beavers: WDFW and partners help Whitman County landowner mitigate wildlife impacts

Photo courtesy Megan Shchepetov Megan

John Brown can appreciate both the good and bad in a situation.

“It has certainly changed the ecosystem of the area,” he said about a recent situation with some beavers that were just a little too eager. “I’ve got geese nesting and moose visiting now, mallard duck nestlings — we never had all those before.”

When a pair of beavers moved up the stream on Brown’s Whitman County property in January 2024 and immediately went to work damming the water flow, Brown was initially okay with it because he recognized that there would be benefits. But while the damming created ponds that raised the water table, which was great for his well, it also took a toll on some pastureland.

“There are six dams in 1900 feet of stream,” Brown said. “I was not concerned about the lower dams but in the upper area they had extended a dam out into a whole pasture. I had quality grass in there, and it’s going to take a while to redeem that. The waters from the dam back up and silt deposits build up, making it hard to regenerate that pasture.”

A former stream grew into a major waterway on John Brown’s property in Whitman County. Photo Courtesy of John Brown,

Beaver benefits and what to do when they are too industrious

Beavers offer numerous environmental benefits, improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, and (sometimes) mitigating flooding. Their dams create wildlife and riparian habitat, regulate water flow, and contribute to healthy ecosystems. Additionally, they can help reduce wildfire risks and improve overall water quality by filtering sediment out of moving water.

However, the impacts of beavers’ dam building can occasionally bring them into conflict with humans. Since purchasing the 34 acres in 1986, Brown planted trees for windbreaks, privacy, and to improve habitat. Several of those trees fell prey to the beavers, despite wrapping the trunks in wire mesh in an attempt to beaver-proof them.

“All the trees are wired but when they can’t get access to tree trunks they eat the roots. We’ve lost a few trees from windthrow because of that.”

While wrapping trees in mesh can provide some protection, welded wire fencing staked at the base is a tried-and-true method of keeping beavers out long-term.

Backed up water from a beaver dam approaches the barn on John Brown’s Whitman County property. Photo courtesy John Brown.

The loss of trees was another challenge that Brown took in stride. However, he hit his limit when rising waters from the beaver dams threatened his historic barn. At one point the water in his barnyard was so deep that Brown used a canoe to cross it.

“…There is a limit to what we can tolerate from beavers, and I’m close to reaching that level,” he wrote in an email to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Habitat Biologist Melissa MacKelvie toward the end of 2024.

John Brown uses a canoe to traverse what used to be his barnyard. Photo courtesy of John Brown.

Brown and MacKelvie became acquainted when the Palouse Conservation District invited her to give a presentation on beavers to the community. He was traveling and couldn’t attend but reached out to MacKelvie via email.

“He told me about a large dam that put his barn at risk of flooding,” said MacKelvie. “I was able to write a permit to do work in a body of water and connect him with The Lands Council, who got a team out to install a pond leveler.”

The Lands Council (TLC) is a nonprofit organization that works in Eastern Washington and North Idaho to preserve and revitalize inland Northwest forests, water, and wildlife through advocacy, education, effective action, and community engagement. TLC’s beaver program works to educate people on the benefits of beavers, implement projects to reduce negative impacts from beavers’ work, and relocate them as a last option when other mitigation attempts don’t work.

TLC’s Public Land Program Director, Adam Gebauer, has extensive experience mitigating beaver issues and was eager to help. Although MacKelvie had an emergency permit to work in water completed within a week of her visit to Brown’s flooded property, Gebauer had to wait until the pond was ice free and the weather warmed enough to do work in the water. It was a particularly wet spring, with several documented 100-year flood events in the Palouse, which not only pushed back the project but meant the water continued to rise at an accelerated rate.

“The beavers have now backed up the water around the barn. When can you get out here?” Brown wrote in an email to Gebauer and MacKelvie in March. “Be prepared for a lot of water, I need the pond lowered by 24 inches. It’s now surrounding two-thirds of my barn.”

Water rises around John Brown’s barn in March of 2025, eventually surrounding it on three sides. Photo courtesy of John Brown,

“Beavers are such an important ecosystem engineer, and The Lands Council wants to work with landowner to keep beavers in habitats that support them while reducing their impacts to structures and agriculture,” said Gebauer. “Unfortunately, there is still a lot of habitats that cannot support beavers and all their benefits.”

A team from The Lands Council installs a pond leveler to mitigate impacts of the beaver dams on John Brown’s property. Photos courtesy of Lauren McNamara.

In early April, conditions finally began to cooperate and Gebauer was able to install what’s known as a flexible pond leveler, a 15-inch diameter pipe installed through a beaver dam, with an intake to the pipe sunk 20 feet upstream. This helps to regulate the water level in the pond upstream, keeping it flowing to lessen the backup and flooding while reducing the ability of beavers to block that flow. The water level dropped immediately, the crisis averted, and the barn saved.

Today, Brown is still okay with being neighbors with the beavers and is happy with how his property fared and happy to share it with others.

“It’s just a little personal park now,” he said. “Although a lot of people use it. There’s a trail across it that people use.”

Before and after: standing water in John Brown’s barnyard during flooding (left) and immediately after a pond leveler was installed (right) to mitigate the impacts of beaver dams.

Pond levelers are a low-cost effective solution to beaver-caused problems but are most effective when placed and sized appropriately. Each site is unique so multiple factors must be taken into account when planning a project like Brown’s, such as stream flow, habitat conditions, and sediment load. Pond levelers can be frustrating to plan if you don’t have experience with their construction.

WDFW, conservation districts, and local beaver coexistence specialists like The Lands Council are excellent resources if you are experiencing issues with beavers.

Because Washington State law (RCW 77.55) requires people planning projects in or near state waters to get a Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) from WDFW it is important that your first step is to reach out to your local WDFW habitat biologist to review the site and discuss HPA permitting requirements.

Refer to the WDFW website for more information about beavers, their habitat, and steps to prevent conflicts. Best practices for beaver coexistence, including how to effectively wrap trees and how to find a trained coexistence practitioner in your area, can be found at the Methow Okanogan Beaver Project’s Landowner Resources page.