In February, over a dozen beaver enthusiasts donned snowshoes and filed to a headwaters creek in southwest Oregon to watch as five beavers were introduced to their new home. The release marks a milestone for the Vesper Meadow Education Program, which has been rehabilitating wet meadow habitat on private land nearby.
Representatives from Vesper Meadow join the Exchange to shed light on the efforts to strengthen Oregon's beaver population. Jeanine Moy is Founder and Director of Vesper Meadow Education Program. Stasie Maxwell is Manager of the Indigenous Partnership Programs.
Experts and volunteers have spent the past six years setting the table for beavers, said Jeanine Moy, Vesper Meadow’s program director. “We've been partnering with state federal agencies as well as local nonprofits, school groups, artists, independent biologists to get the ecosystem to the point where beavers could come back.”
Beaver dams and activity can help store water, improve water quality, boost biodiversity, and even create firebreaks. But the loss of these “ecosystem engineers,” along with cattle grazing, water diversions and logging, have degraded wet mountain meadows.
