Beaver in the Sierra Nevada
Encyclopedia
The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) had a historic range that overlapped the Sierra Nevada in California
. Before the European colonization of the Americas
, beaver were distributed from the arctic tundra
to the deserts of northern Mexico
. The California Golden beaver subspecies (Castor canadensis subauratus) was prevalent in the Sacramento
and San Joaquin River
watersheds, including their tributaries in the Sierra Nevada.
Until recently, beavers were considered pests, and the animals and their dams are still being removed by wildlife managers in the Sierra Nevada despite evidence of their beneficial effects on biodiversity for fish and other species in mountain wetland ecosystems. Evidence is increasing that beavers were once native to the high Sierra until their extirpation in the nineteenth century.
and San Joaquin Rivers.". Earlier, in 1906, Frank Stephens wrote in "California Mammals" that Castor canadensis' historic range was from the "Pacific slope from Alaska to central California east to and including the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains" and adds "In most parts, Of California the presence of beavers is only made known by the stumps of the trees and saplings that they have cut." Other early twentieth century naturalists (Grinnell, Tappe, etc.) questioned whether the California Golden beaver dwelt above 1000 feet (304.8 m) of elevation in the Sierra, but Grinnell relied on interviews with contemporary trappers and the specimens only in the collection of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
in Berkeley, California
and did not appear to research or reference earlier publications or specimen collections in other museums. In contrast to Grinnell's claims, the Bryant and Stephens accounts stating that beaver are native to the high Sierra are supported by the evidence below.
(elevation 256 ft (78 m) and Waterford, California
(elevation 51 ft (16 m)) were stocked in 1940 at Mather Station (elevation 4522 ft (1,378 m)) west of Yosemite National Park
and in 1944 at Fish Camp
(elevation 5062 ft (1,543 m)) by the California Department of Fish and Game
(CDFG). These native "Central Valley" beaver have been building dams and rearing young successfully for 70 years in and near Yosemite at elevations higher than 5000 feet (1,524 m). A second reference (Hensley, 1946) confirms that the CDFG re-introductions of beaver into Mariposa County in the Merced River
watershed were all C. C. subauratus (Golden beaver) taken from near sea level elevations. These lowland beaver adapted to the high Sierras without difficulty.
, the northern Paiute, and the Mountain Maidu had territories overlapping with the Central Valley. The Washo lived in the eastern Sierra and their hunting grounds extended west to Calaveras County
however they have a word for beaver, c'imhélhel. There are no Washo words for animals that are not native, such as "elephant". In addition, the Mountain Maidu language have a pre-European contact word for beaver: Hi-chi-hi-nem according to Farrell Cunningham, member of the Tsi Akim Maidu Tribe of Taylorsville Rancheria located at 3,500 feet in the Indian Valley, a tributary of the East Branch North Fork Feather River. The northern Paiute of Walker Lake
, Honey Lake
and Pyramid Lake were visited by Stephen Powers
to collect Indian materials for the Smithsonian Institution
in preparation for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876
. Powers reported that the northern Paiute wrapped their hair in strips of beaver fur, made medicine from parts of beaver and that their creation legend included beaver, which they called Su-i'-tu-ti-kut'-teh. Given the hydrological connection of the Humboldt River
and Sink
to the Carson Sink
during flood years (as recently as 1998), it is not surprising that beavers were historically extant on eastern Sierra watercourses. Peter Skene Ogden
, on a Hudson's Bay Company
expedition to the terminus of the Humboldt River, wrote in his diary on May 15, 1829, "In no part have I found beaver so abundant. The total number of American trappers in this region at this time exceeds 80. I have only 28 trappers... The trappers now average 125 beaver a man and are greatly pleased with their success."
A 500-1,000 year old Yokut Indian pictograph of a beaver at Painted Rock is located above 1600 feet (487.7 m) of elevation in the southern Sierra Nevada on the Tule Indian Reservation
.
intentionally trapped the beaver in California to near extinction to prevent American settlement, place names with the English word "beaver" in the State are uncommon. However, a search of the Geographic Names Information System
reveals that there are or were several Beaver Creeks in the Sierra Nevada. One is in Amador County and begins at 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) and descends to 3300 feet (1,005.8 m) where it joins the Bear River (a tributary of the Mokelumne River
). Another Beaver Creek, begins at 7400 feet (2,255.5 m) and descends to 2500 feet (762 m) in Calaveras County
where it joins the North Fork of the Stanislaus River
. This second Beaver Creek, has a Little Beaver Creek tributary in Tuolumne County
that joins it 8 miles southwest of Liberty Hill, California and another tributary historically known as Beaver Creek but now known as Crane Creek. There was a third Beaver Creek in the Sierra Nevada, now named Brandy Creek which flows into the Yuba River
at 2,421 feet in Yuba County
near Camptonville, California. There is a fourth Beaver Creek in Beaver Canyon in Kern County
in the southern Sierra at elevations which descends to its confluence with the Kern River
at 2,051 feet elevation. There is a Beaver Meadow in Alpine County
at elevation 7,421 feet on Grouse Creek, a tributary of the Mokelumne River
. Also, there is a "Beaver Ponds" at 5,620 feet in Madera County
several miles northwest of Bass Lake. Taken together, the presence of several "Beaver" place names in the high Sierra Nevada is consistent with the hypothesis that they were native species, however, they could be named for the unrelated Mountain Beaver
(Aplodontia rufa).
s employed by large commercial enterprises such as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
, the American Fur Company
, and the Hudson's Bay Company
drew American exploration west to the Pacific. The Hudson's Bay Company purposefully tried to extirpate beaver in California and Oregon to stifle American intrusion into these states and create a "fur desert". Early records show that by the 1830s, American fur brigades were in the Sierras. Fur trapper Stephen Hall Meek
wrote in his brief autobiography, "We got too far West, and finally started down the Mary's, or Humboldt river
for California, over a country entirely unknown to trappers. We discovered Truckee
, Carson
and Walker rivers, Donner lake
and Walker's pass
, through which we went and pitched our camp for the winter on the shore of Tulare Lake
, in December, 1833." Meek "set his traps on the Truckee River in 1833", which strongly suggests that he saw beaver or beaver sign. Supporting this line of evidence, Tappe records in 1941 an eyewitness who said beaver were plentiful on the upper part of the Carson River and its tributaries in Alpine County until 1892 when they fell victim to heavy trapping. Also, a 1906 article in the Nevada State Journal newspaper by newspaper mining writer Fitz-James MacCarthy (aka Fitz-Mac) stated that the Mason's Valley of the Walker River in Yerington, Nevada
was well known to "the early trappers and fur hunters...Kit Carson knew it to the bone...The beavers of course were all trapped long ago, and you never see an elk nowadays..." Although the mountain men left few detailed records, another early fur trapper account provides evidence suggesting early nineteenth century beaver trapping in the southern high Sierra: a 14 man party led by Ewing Young
which included Jonathan J. Warner
in the fall of 1832 trapped the Kings River
"up to and some distance into the mountains and then passed on to the San Joaquin River
, trapped that river down to canoe navigation in the foothills, where a canoe was made...". Young and Warner certainly were well above the 1,000 foot level in the Sierras as the headwaters of the San Joaquin River at Martha Lake
is less than two miles from the headwaters of the Kings River, above 10,000 feet near Mount Goddard
in Kings Canyon National Park
and this was the natural route (Hell for Sure Pass) for Ewing and Warner to cross from the source of one river to the other. Williams similarly interpreted accounts of Colonel Warner's expedition, stating that "Warner, had been trapping fur-bearing animals at the headwaters of the Kings River about the same time that the Walker party was descending the Merced River
". These interpretations of Young and Warner trapping high up on the Kings River is buttressed by an eyewitness account taken by Tappe from a retired game warden in 1940, who stated that beaver were "apparently not uncommon on the upper part of the Kings River" until 1882-1883. On the next watershed to the south, the Kern River
, another oral history was taken from Roy De Voe, who claimed to have seen "very old beaver sign" on the east side of the Kern River at Funston Meadow (elevation 6,476 feet) in 1946. Also, Mr. De Voe reported that his friend trapped the Kern River for beaver around 1900, making his camp at the mouth of Rattlesnake Creek (elevation 6,585) until they were trapped out completely by 1910 - 1914. The presence of Beaver Canyon Creek, tributary to the lower Kern River just east of Delonegha Hot Springs, is also consistent with the Kern River watershed having historically supported native beaver. In a personal account, Robert Wendell Richards, author of Tales of Sutter Creek, recalls that his father ran a trapline and caught beaver in Sutter Creek, California
(elevation 1,188 feet) until his graduation from high school in 1929.
It may have been easier to trap out beaver in the Sierra Nevada than the beaver of the Delta. The beaver in the rivers of the Central Valley did not have to build dams since there was plenty of deep water to provide food and shelter, whereas mountain beaver have to impound streams to create deep water. The easiest way to trap beaver is to remove a few sticks from their dam, and set a trap to catch them when they come to make repairs. Thus, it may have been much easier to trap out dam-building beavers in the foothills and mountains than the non-dam building beavers near sea level in the California Delta. Grinnell states, "Beavers living in banks frequently leave little sign, and it is sometimes difficult to find places to set traps for them." Grinnell also pointed out (after lamenting the lifting of the 1911-1925 moratorium on beaver trapping) that many parts of the Delta were inaccessible to trappers, "A few are left in sloughs with the "islands", where trappers do not go." Finally, the pelts of beaver in colder, high Sierra climes would have produced thicker, more desirable and likely more highly sought after pelts than lowland beaver. Well before the end of the nineteenth century these factors likely contributed to the mountains being bereft of beaver while concentrating the surviving, albeit decimated Golden beaver populations in the Delta.
Castor canadensis were re-introduced to the Tahoe Basin by the CDFG and the U. S. Forest Service
between 1934 and 1949 in order to prevent stream degradation and to promote wetland restoration. Descended from no more than nine individuals from the Snake River
in Idaho, 1987 beaver populations on the upper and lower Truckee River
had reached a density of 0.72 colonies (3.5 beavers) per kilometer.
(Salix spp.) showed good vigor despite heavy use in most reaches. He further speculated that without control of beaver populations that aspen and cottonwood could go extinct on the Truckee River. However, not only have aspen and cottonwood survived ongoing beaver colonization but a recent study of ten Tahoe streams utilizing aerial multispectral videography has shown that deciduous, thick herbaceous, and thin herbaceous vegetation are more highly concentrated near beaver dams, whereas coniferous trees are decreased. These findings are consistent with those of Pollock, who reported that in Bridge Creek, a stream in semi-arid eastern Oregon, the width of riparian vegetation on stream banks was increased several-fold as beaver dams watered previously dry terraces adjacent to the stream. Therefore, beaver appear to increase riparian vegetation given enough years to aggrade sediments and pond heights sufficiently to create widened, well-watered riparian zones, especially in areas of low summer rainfall.
s can be easily controlled with flow device
s; and it has been shown that trout and salmon move freely across beaver dams.
The presence of beaver dams has also been shown to either increase the number of fish, their size, or both, in a study of brook, rainbow and brown trout in Sagehen Creek, which flows into the Little Truckee River
at an altitude of 5800 feet (1,767.8 m) and is a stream typical of the eastern slope of the northern Sierra Nevada. These findings are consistent with a study of small streams in Sweden
, that found that brown trout were larger in beaver ponds compared with those in riffle
sections, and that beaver ponds provide habitat for larger trout in small streams during periods of drought. Similarly, brook trout, coho and sockeye salmon were significantly larger in beaver ponds than those in un-impounded stream sections in Colorado
and Alaska
. Finally, research in the Stillaguamish River basin in Washington state, found that extensive loss of beaver ponds resulted in an 89% reduction in coho salmon smolt summer production and an almost equally detrimental 86% reduction in critical winter habitat carrying capacity.
, Ward Creek, Cold Creek, Taylor Creek, Meeks Creek
, Blackwood Creek, and King's Beach
, so the descendants of the original nine beavers have apparently migrated around most of Lake Tahoe.
All of the beaver dams in Taylor Creek, which flows from Fallen Leaf Lake to Lake Tahoe
, are destroyed annually each fall by the U. S. Forest Service in order for Kokanee salmon
(Oncorhynchus nerka) to spawn. A recent study of Taylor Creek showed that the beaver dam removal decreased wetland habitat, increased stream flow, and increased total phosphorus pollutants entering Lake Tahoe - all factors which negatively impact the clarity of the lake's water. In addition, beaver dams located in Ward Creek, located on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, were also shown to decrease nutrients and sediments traveling downstream. Beavers increase wetland areas which trap sediments and improve water quality.
The California Department of Fish and Game does not appear to be employing flow devices in Tahoe area beaver management. In 2006 the Town of Truckee
worked with the CDFG and the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to remove beaver dams from Trout Creek because of rising creek levels by de-watering and dredging a 500 foot section near Donner Pass Road
. In November 2009 a beaver family was caught in snares underwater and drowned in Griff Creek
in King's Beach, California when Placer County Department of Public Works ordered their removal for fear that the beaver would cause flooding. When another beaver family of four recolonized Griff Creek in 2010, officials had them shot by snipers.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Before the European colonization of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
, beaver were distributed from the arctic tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
to the deserts of northern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The California Golden beaver subspecies (Castor canadensis subauratus) was prevalent in the Sacramento
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...
and San Joaquin River
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...
watersheds, including their tributaries in the Sierra Nevada.
Until recently, beavers were considered pests, and the animals and their dams are still being removed by wildlife managers in the Sierra Nevada despite evidence of their beneficial effects on biodiversity for fish and other species in mountain wetland ecosystems. Evidence is increasing that beavers were once native to the high Sierra until their extirpation in the nineteenth century.
Historical range and distribution
In 1916, Harold Bryant wrote in California Fish and Game, "The beaver of our mountain districts has been entirely exterminated and there are but a few hundred survivors to be found along the Sacramento, ColoradoColorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
and San Joaquin Rivers.". Earlier, in 1906, Frank Stephens wrote in "California Mammals" that Castor canadensis' historic range was from the "Pacific slope from Alaska to central California east to and including the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains" and adds "In most parts, Of California the presence of beavers is only made known by the stumps of the trees and saplings that they have cut." Other early twentieth century naturalists (Grinnell, Tappe, etc.) questioned whether the California Golden beaver dwelt above 1000 feet (304.8 m) of elevation in the Sierra, but Grinnell relied on interviews with contemporary trappers and the specimens only in the collection of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is a natural history museum at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. The museum was founded by philanthropist Annie Montague Alexander in 1908...
in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
and did not appear to research or reference earlier publications or specimen collections in other museums. In contrast to Grinnell's claims, the Bryant and Stephens accounts stating that beaver are native to the high Sierra are supported by the evidence below.
Adaptability of Central Valley Beaver to the High Sierra
California Golden beaver taken from Snelling, CaliforniaSnelling, California
Snelling is a census-designated place in Merced County, California. It is located on the north bank of the Merced River north of Merced, at an elevation of 256 feet . The population was 231 at the 2010 census....
(elevation 256 ft (78 m) and Waterford, California
Waterford, California
Waterford, California is the eighth largest city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 8,456 at the 2010 census, up from 6,924 as of the 2000 census...
(elevation 51 ft (16 m)) were stocked in 1940 at Mather Station (elevation 4522 ft (1,378 m)) west of Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
and in 1944 at Fish Camp
Fish Camp, California
Fish Camp is a census-designated place in Mariposa County, California. It is located east of Mariposa, at an elevation of 5062 feet . The population was 59 at the 2010 census....
(elevation 5062 ft (1,543 m)) by the California Department of Fish and Game
California Department of Fish and Game
The California Department of Fish and Game is a department within the government of California, falling under its parent California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Game manages and protects the state's diverse fish, wildlife, plant resources, and native habitats...
(CDFG). These native "Central Valley" beaver have been building dams and rearing young successfully for 70 years in and near Yosemite at elevations higher than 5000 feet (1,524 m). A second reference (Hensley, 1946) confirms that the CDFG re-introductions of beaver into Mariposa County in the Merced River
Merced River
The Merced River , in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, and the...
watershed were all C. C. subauratus (Golden beaver) taken from near sea level elevations. These lowland beaver adapted to the high Sierras without difficulty.
Ethnographic Evidence of Beaver in the High and Eastern Sierra
All Sierra Nevada Indian tribes had beaver totems, although most of them except the WashoWashoe people
The Washoe are a Great Basin tribe of Native Americans, living in California and Nevada. The name "Washoe" is derived from the autonym waashiw meaning "people from here" in the Washo language .-Territory:Washoe people have lived in the Great Basin for at least the last 6000 years...
, the northern Paiute, and the Mountain Maidu had territories overlapping with the Central Valley. The Washo lived in the eastern Sierra and their hunting grounds extended west to Calaveras County
Calaveras County, California
Calaveras County is a county located in the Gold Country of the U.S. state of California. Calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga. As of the 2010 census, the county had a...
however they have a word for beaver, c'imhélhel. There are no Washo words for animals that are not native, such as "elephant". In addition, the Mountain Maidu language have a pre-European contact word for beaver: Hi-chi-hi-nem according to Farrell Cunningham, member of the Tsi Akim Maidu Tribe of Taylorsville Rancheria located at 3,500 feet in the Indian Valley, a tributary of the East Branch North Fork Feather River. The northern Paiute of Walker Lake
Walker Lake (Nevada)
Walker Lake is a natural lake, 50.3 mi² in area, in the Great Basin in western Nevada in the United States. It is 18 mi long and 7 mi wide, located in northwestern Mineral County along the eastern side of the Wassuk Range, approximately 75 mi southeast of Reno...
, Honey Lake
Honey Lake
Honey Lake is an endorheic sink within the Honey Lake Valley located in northeastern California, near the Nevada border. Summer evaporation reduces the lake to a lower level of 12 km² and creates an alkali flat....
and Pyramid Lake were visited by Stephen Powers
Stephen Powers
*This article is about the 19th-century journalist and historian of California Indians.Stephen Powers was an American journalist, ethnographer, and historian of Native American tribes in California. He traveled extensively to study and learn about their cultures, and wrote notable accounts of them...
to collect Indian materials for the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in preparation for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
. Powers reported that the northern Paiute wrapped their hair in strips of beaver fur, made medicine from parts of beaver and that their creation legend included beaver, which they called Su-i'-tu-ti-kut'-teh. Given the hydrological connection of the Humboldt River
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
and Sink
Humboldt Sink
Humboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi long, and 4 mi across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States...
to the Carson Sink
Carson Sink
Carson Sink is a playa in the northeastern portion of the Carson Desert that was formerly the terminus of the Carson River. The sink is currently fed by drainage canals of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District...
during flood years (as recently as 1998), it is not surprising that beavers were historically extant on eastern Sierra watercourses. Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden , was a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West...
, on a Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
expedition to the terminus of the Humboldt River, wrote in his diary on May 15, 1829, "In no part have I found beaver so abundant. The total number of American trappers in this region at this time exceeds 80. I have only 28 trappers... The trappers now average 125 beaver a man and are greatly pleased with their success."
A 500-1,000 year old Yokut Indian pictograph of a beaver at Painted Rock is located above 1600 feet (487.7 m) of elevation in the southern Sierra Nevada on the Tule Indian Reservation
Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation
The Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans. The Tule River Reservation is the name of the tribe's reservation, which is located in Tulare County, California...
.
High Sierra Beaver Place Names
Because the Hudson's Bay CompanyHudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
intentionally trapped the beaver in California to near extinction to prevent American settlement, place names with the English word "beaver" in the State are uncommon. However, a search of the Geographic Names Information System
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer...
reveals that there are or were several Beaver Creeks in the Sierra Nevada. One is in Amador County and begins at 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) and descends to 3300 feet (1,005.8 m) where it joins the Bear River (a tributary of the Mokelumne River
Mokelumne River
The Mokelumne River is a river in Northern California. The Upper Mokelumne River originates in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and flows into Pardee Reservoir and then Camanche Reservoir in the Sierra foothills. The Lower Mokelumne River refers to the portion of the river below Camanche Dam...
). Another Beaver Creek, begins at 7400 feet (2,255.5 m) and descends to 2500 feet (762 m) in Calaveras County
Calaveras County, California
Calaveras County is a county located in the Gold Country of the U.S. state of California. Calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga. As of the 2010 census, the county had a...
where it joins the North Fork of the Stanislaus River
Stanislaus River
The Stanislaus River in California is one of the largest tributaries of the San Joaquin River. The river is long and has north, middle and south forks...
. This second Beaver Creek, has a Little Beaver Creek tributary in Tuolumne County
Tuolumne County, California
Tuolumne County is a county in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. The northern half of Yosemite National Park is located in the eastern part of the county. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,365, up from 54,501 at the 2000 census...
that joins it 8 miles southwest of Liberty Hill, California and another tributary historically known as Beaver Creek but now known as Crane Creek. There was a third Beaver Creek in the Sierra Nevada, now named Brandy Creek which flows into the Yuba River
Yuba River
The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sacramento Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is one of the Feather's most important branches, providing about a third of its flow. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into North, Middle and South...
at 2,421 feet in Yuba County
Yuba County, California
Yuba County is a county located in the U.S. state of California's Central Valley, north of Sacramento, along the Feather River. As of the 2010 census, its population was 72,155. The county seat is Marysville. Yuba County is part of the Greater Sacramento area.-History:Yuba County was one of the...
near Camptonville, California. There is a fourth Beaver Creek in Beaver Canyon in Kern County
Kern County, California
Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
in the southern Sierra at elevations which descends to its confluence with the Kern River
Kern River
The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for...
at 2,051 feet elevation. There is a Beaver Meadow in Alpine County
Alpine County, California
Alpine County is the smallest county, by population, in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010, it had a population of 1,175, all rural. There are no incorporated cities in the county. The county seat is Markleeville...
at elevation 7,421 feet on Grouse Creek, a tributary of the Mokelumne River
Mokelumne River
The Mokelumne River is a river in Northern California. The Upper Mokelumne River originates in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and flows into Pardee Reservoir and then Camanche Reservoir in the Sierra foothills. The Lower Mokelumne River refers to the portion of the river below Camanche Dam...
. Also, there is a "Beaver Ponds" at 5,620 feet in Madera County
Madera County, California
Madera County is a county of the U.S. state of California, located in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada north of Fresno County. It comprises the Madera-Chowchilla, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census the population was 150,865...
several miles northwest of Bass Lake. Taken together, the presence of several "Beaver" place names in the high Sierra Nevada is consistent with the hypothesis that they were native species, however, they could be named for the unrelated Mountain Beaver
Mountain Beaver
The Mountain Beaver is the most primitive extant rodent. Not to be confused with the North American beaver Castor canadensis, or its relative the Eurasian beaver, Castor fiber, it has several common names including Aplodontia, Boomer, Ground Bear, and Giant Mole...
(Aplodontia rufa).
Fur Trapper Records of Beaver in the High and Eastern Sierra
McIntyre hypothesized that beaver were trapped out of the Sierras early in the nineteenth century by trappers before records could be kept. Fur brigadeFur brigade
The Fur brigade were convoys of Canadian Indian fur trappers who traveled between their home trading posts and a larger HBC post in order to supply the inland post with goods and supply the HBC post with furs. Travel was usually done on the rivers by canoe or, in certain prairie situations, by horse...
s employed by large commercial enterprises such as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
Rocky Mountain Fur Company
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company, sometimes called Ashley's Hundred, was organized in St. Louis, Missouri in 1823 by General William H. Ashley and Major Andrew Henry . They posted advertisements in St. Louis newspapers seeking "One Hundred enterprising young men . ....
, the American Fur Company
American Fur Company
The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...
, and the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
drew American exploration west to the Pacific. The Hudson's Bay Company purposefully tried to extirpate beaver in California and Oregon to stifle American intrusion into these states and create a "fur desert". Early records show that by the 1830s, American fur brigades were in the Sierras. Fur trapper Stephen Hall Meek
Stephen Meek
Stephen Hall Meek was a fur trapper and guide in the American west, most notably a guide on a large wagon train known as St. Joseph's Company...
wrote in his brief autobiography, "We got too far West, and finally started down the Mary's, or Humboldt river
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink...
for California, over a country entirely unknown to trappers. We discovered Truckee
Truckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
, Carson
Carson River
The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long....
and Walker rivers, Donner lake
Donner Lake
Donner Lake is a freshwater lake in northeast California on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and about northwest of the much larger Lake Tahoe. A moraine serves as a natural dam for the lake. The lake is located in the town of Truckee, sandwiched between Interstate 80 to the north and...
and Walker's pass
Walker Pass
Walker Pass is a mountain pass by Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. It is located in northeastern Kern County, approximately 53 mi ENE of Bakersfield and 10 mi WNW of Ridgecrest...
, through which we went and pitched our camp for the winter on the shore of Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake, named Laguna de Tache by the Spanish, is a fresh-water dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in southern San Joaquin Valley, California...
, in December, 1833." Meek "set his traps on the Truckee River in 1833", which strongly suggests that he saw beaver or beaver sign. Supporting this line of evidence, Tappe records in 1941 an eyewitness who said beaver were plentiful on the upper part of the Carson River and its tributaries in Alpine County until 1892 when they fell victim to heavy trapping. Also, a 1906 article in the Nevada State Journal newspaper by newspaper mining writer Fitz-James MacCarthy (aka Fitz-Mac) stated that the Mason's Valley of the Walker River in Yerington, Nevada
Yerington, Nevada
Yerington is a city in Lyon County, located in western Nevada, USA. The population was 2,883 at the 2000 census. It is named after Henry M. Yerington, Superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad from 1868 to 1910. It is the county seat of Lyon County....
was well known to "the early trappers and fur hunters...Kit Carson knew it to the bone...The beavers of course were all trapped long ago, and you never see an elk nowadays..." Although the mountain men left few detailed records, another early fur trapper account provides evidence suggesting early nineteenth century beaver trapping in the southern high Sierra: a 14 man party led by Ewing Young
Ewing Young
Ewing Young was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled Mexican southwestern North America and California before settling in the Oregon Country. As a prominent and wealthy citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in what became the state...
which included Jonathan J. Warner
Juan Jose Warner
Juan Jose Warner , a naturalized American-Mexican citizen, developed Warner's Ranch in Warner Springs, California. From 1849-1861, the ranch was important as a stop for emigrant travelers on the Southern Trail, including the Gila River Emigrant Trail and the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line...
in the fall of 1832 trapped the Kings River
Kings River (California)
The Kings River is a major river of south-central California. About long, it drains an area of the high western Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. A large alluvial fan has formed where the river's gradient decreases in the Central Valley so the river divides into distributaries...
"up to and some distance into the mountains and then passed on to the San Joaquin River
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...
, trapped that river down to canoe navigation in the foothills, where a canoe was made...". Young and Warner certainly were well above the 1,000 foot level in the Sierras as the headwaters of the San Joaquin River at Martha Lake
Martha Lake (California)
Lake Martha is a lake in Kings Canyon National Park, on the Le Conte Divide, north of Mount Reinstein and southwest of Mount Goddard. Lake Martha is notable for being the source of the San Joaquin River. It is also on the easiest route to Hell for Sure Pass. Due to its elevation, it can be...
is less than two miles from the headwaters of the Kings River, above 10,000 feet near Mount Goddard
Mount Goddard
Mount Goddard is a mountain of California's Sierra Nevada, in the north section of Kings Canyon National Park. Goddard forms the southwest boundary of the Evolution Basin....
in Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park is a National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. The park was established in 1940 and covers...
and this was the natural route (Hell for Sure Pass) for Ewing and Warner to cross from the source of one river to the other. Williams similarly interpreted accounts of Colonel Warner's expedition, stating that "Warner, had been trapping fur-bearing animals at the headwaters of the Kings River about the same time that the Walker party was descending the Merced River
Merced River
The Merced River , in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, and the...
". These interpretations of Young and Warner trapping high up on the Kings River is buttressed by an eyewitness account taken by Tappe from a retired game warden in 1940, who stated that beaver were "apparently not uncommon on the upper part of the Kings River" until 1882-1883. On the next watershed to the south, the Kern River
Kern River
The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for...
, another oral history was taken from Roy De Voe, who claimed to have seen "very old beaver sign" on the east side of the Kern River at Funston Meadow (elevation 6,476 feet) in 1946. Also, Mr. De Voe reported that his friend trapped the Kern River for beaver around 1900, making his camp at the mouth of Rattlesnake Creek (elevation 6,585) until they were trapped out completely by 1910 - 1914. The presence of Beaver Canyon Creek, tributary to the lower Kern River just east of Delonegha Hot Springs, is also consistent with the Kern River watershed having historically supported native beaver. In a personal account, Robert Wendell Richards, author of Tales of Sutter Creek, recalls that his father ran a trapline and caught beaver in Sutter Creek, California
Sutter Creek, California
Sutter Creek is a city in Amador County, California, United States. The population was 2,501 at the 2010 census, up from 2,303 at the 2000 census...
(elevation 1,188 feet) until his graduation from high school in 1929.
It may have been easier to trap out beaver in the Sierra Nevada than the beaver of the Delta. The beaver in the rivers of the Central Valley did not have to build dams since there was plenty of deep water to provide food and shelter, whereas mountain beaver have to impound streams to create deep water. The easiest way to trap beaver is to remove a few sticks from their dam, and set a trap to catch them when they come to make repairs. Thus, it may have been much easier to trap out dam-building beavers in the foothills and mountains than the non-dam building beavers near sea level in the California Delta. Grinnell states, "Beavers living in banks frequently leave little sign, and it is sometimes difficult to find places to set traps for them." Grinnell also pointed out (after lamenting the lifting of the 1911-1925 moratorium on beaver trapping) that many parts of the Delta were inaccessible to trappers, "A few are left in sloughs with the "islands", where trappers do not go." Finally, the pelts of beaver in colder, high Sierra climes would have produced thicker, more desirable and likely more highly sought after pelts than lowland beaver. Well before the end of the nineteenth century these factors likely contributed to the mountains being bereft of beaver while concentrating the surviving, albeit decimated Golden beaver populations in the Delta.
Castor canadensis were re-introduced to the Tahoe Basin by the CDFG and the U. S. Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
between 1934 and 1949 in order to prevent stream degradation and to promote wetland restoration. Descended from no more than nine individuals from the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
in Idaho, 1987 beaver populations on the upper and lower Truckee River
Truckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
had reached a density of 0.72 colonies (3.5 beavers) per kilometer.
Ecology
Effects of beaver on Aspen, Cottonwood and Willow
In 1987, Beier reported that beaver had caused local extinction of Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and Black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) on 4-5% of stream reaches on the lower Truckee River, however WillowWillow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
(Salix spp.) showed good vigor despite heavy use in most reaches. He further speculated that without control of beaver populations that aspen and cottonwood could go extinct on the Truckee River. However, not only have aspen and cottonwood survived ongoing beaver colonization but a recent study of ten Tahoe streams utilizing aerial multispectral videography has shown that deciduous, thick herbaceous, and thin herbaceous vegetation are more highly concentrated near beaver dams, whereas coniferous trees are decreased. These findings are consistent with those of Pollock, who reported that in Bridge Creek, a stream in semi-arid eastern Oregon, the width of riparian vegetation on stream banks was increased several-fold as beaver dams watered previously dry terraces adjacent to the stream. Therefore, beaver appear to increase riparian vegetation given enough years to aggrade sediments and pond heights sufficiently to create widened, well-watered riparian zones, especially in areas of low summer rainfall.
Effects of beaver on salmonids
Until recently, beaver were considered pests who caused flooding and impaired the passage of spawning trout and salmon. However, water levels in beaver damBeaver dam
Beaver dams are dams built by beavers as protection against predators such as coyotes, wolves, and bears, and to provide easy access to food during winter. Beavers work at night and are prolific builders, carrying mud and stones with their fore-paws and timber between their teeth...
s can be easily controlled with flow device
Flow device
Flow devices are man-made solutions to beaver-related flooding problems. Traditional solutions have been focused on the trapping and removal of all the beavers in the area...
s; and it has been shown that trout and salmon move freely across beaver dams.
The presence of beaver dams has also been shown to either increase the number of fish, their size, or both, in a study of brook, rainbow and brown trout in Sagehen Creek, which flows into the Little Truckee River
Little Truckee River
The Little Truckee River is a river that is a tributary to its larger counterpart, the Truckee River, located in Nevada County in eastern California.-Description:...
at an altitude of 5800 feet (1,767.8 m) and is a stream typical of the eastern slope of the northern Sierra Nevada. These findings are consistent with a study of small streams in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, that found that brown trout were larger in beaver ponds compared with those in riffle
Riffle
A Riffle is a short, relatively shallow and coarse-bedded length of stream over which the stream flows at higher velocity and higher turbulence than it normally does in comparison to a pool....
sections, and that beaver ponds provide habitat for larger trout in small streams during periods of drought. Similarly, brook trout, coho and sockeye salmon were significantly larger in beaver ponds than those in un-impounded stream sections in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. Finally, research in the Stillaguamish River basin in Washington state, found that extensive loss of beaver ponds resulted in an 89% reduction in coho salmon smolt summer production and an almost equally detrimental 86% reduction in critical winter habitat carrying capacity.
Beaver in the Sierra Today
Recently beaver have been documented in the upper and lower Truckee RiverTruckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
, Ward Creek, Cold Creek, Taylor Creek, Meeks Creek
Meeks Creek
Meeks Creek is a western tributary of Lake Tahoe which has its source on Rubicon Lake, 1.2 miles northeast of Phipps Peak in Desolation Wilderness, trends northwest through Stony Ridge Lake, Shadow Lake, Crag Lake, and Lake Genevieve 3.5 miles , continues northeast 3.5 miles to Meeks Bay on Lake...
, Blackwood Creek, and King's Beach
Kings Beach, California
Kings Beach is a census-designated place in Placer County, California, United States on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,796 at the 2010 census, down from 4,037 at the 2000 census.The...
, so the descendants of the original nine beavers have apparently migrated around most of Lake Tahoe.
All of the beaver dams in Taylor Creek, which flows from Fallen Leaf Lake to Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
, are destroyed annually each fall by the U. S. Forest Service in order for Kokanee salmon
Sockeye salmon
Sockeye salmon , also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it...
(Oncorhynchus nerka) to spawn. A recent study of Taylor Creek showed that the beaver dam removal decreased wetland habitat, increased stream flow, and increased total phosphorus pollutants entering Lake Tahoe - all factors which negatively impact the clarity of the lake's water. In addition, beaver dams located in Ward Creek, located on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, were also shown to decrease nutrients and sediments traveling downstream. Beavers increase wetland areas which trap sediments and improve water quality.
The California Department of Fish and Game does not appear to be employing flow devices in Tahoe area beaver management. In 2006 the Town of Truckee
Truckee, California
Truckee is an incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. The population was 16,180 at the 2010 census, up from 13,864 at the 2000 census.-Name:...
worked with the CDFG and the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board to remove beaver dams from Trout Creek because of rising creek levels by de-watering and dredging a 500 foot section near Donner Pass Road
Donner Pass
Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, located above Donner Lake about nine miles west of Truckee, California. It has a steep approach from the east and a gradual approach from the west....
. In November 2009 a beaver family was caught in snares underwater and drowned in Griff Creek
Griff Creek
Griff Creek is a southward-flowing stream originating on Martis Peak in Placer County, California, United States. It culminates in north Lake Tahoe at Kings Beach, California.-History:...
in King's Beach, California when Placer County Department of Public Works ordered their removal for fear that the beaver would cause flooding. When another beaver family of four recolonized Griff Creek in 2010, officials had them shot by snipers.