Jewel of a Beaver Complex intro
Thank you SLO Beaver Brigade Aubrey Taubs for more info on the Beaver Dam
slobeaverbrigade.com/2020/06/02/jewel-of-a-beaver-complex/
Want to visit a Beaver Dam with a Beaver Expert?
A lot of people express surprise when they find out that beavers actually live here in our SLO County. If you are interested in a well-established beaver dam here is one
Dr. Emily Fairfax, a leading expert on beaver science
That a treat, Audrey got to show our beaver dam to Dr. Emily Fairfax, Assistant Professor, California State University Channel Islands, Environmental Science and Resource Management. She was the researcher that studied large-scale wildfires and beaver habitat
She pointed out all the ways the beavers have committed themselves to this area, the 7-foot deep moat around their bank den, the beaver lodge (ie. second story) they were adding on to the beaver den (that I never even noticed before), the series of micro-dams on the hidden back side of the den that were widening the river and creating a safe hidden path to food sources. As we walked in the water, we would occasionally pass through really cold patches of shallow water, she said these were places where the ground water was coming up, cooling the water and recycling the river water back into the ground (something like that), keeping the river water at that perfect fish-loving temperatures. She took a thermal image of the water and the dams also, which are sooooo cool.
