Beaver Mitigation Project Helps Lander Residents and Wildlife Coexist

In Lander, beavers create both problems and opportunities. Their dams flood horse corrals, block water flow, damage erosion-preventing trees, and wash out roads and trails, yet these same behaviors create vital habitats that benefit the wider ecosystem when properly managed. Currently, various local, state, and federal agencies respond to beaver issues in patchwork fashion—relocating beavers that often return, or installing fencing that beavers repurpose for dam-building—sometimes creating worse problems. So a local ecologist worked with Game and Fish, the Forest Service, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Bureau of Land Management, and Natural Resources Conservation Service to come up with a plan to provide holistic solutions that allow humans and beavers to coexist and reached out to LOR. The project—Wyoming’s first comprehensive beaver mitigation initiative—will build specialized structures like culvert protectors that let beavers dam areas while keeping infrastructure open, conduct site assessments for private and public landowners, and host community workshops. A new coordinator position funded by multiple organizations will manage these activities for at least two years. LOR’s funding will help purchase tools, safety gear, fencing materials, corrugated piping, educational demonstration equipment, workshop supplies, and advertising to ensure residents know who to call for beaver conflicts.