CODY, Wyo. — Nuisance beavers will be offered a second chance thanks to a new beaver holding facility recently completed at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Cody regional office.
The new facility will temporarily house nuisance beavers that are trapped on private land so they can be relocated to areas that need habitat restoration in northwest Wyoming, WGFD announced via press release.
“Over 80 beavers have been translocated in the Cody Region since 2018, resulting in at least eight successfully established colonies,” Jerry Altermatt, Cody Region terrestrial habitat biologist said.
To transplant beavers, biologists attempt to capture a breeding pair and their offspring. “Transplanting a family group increases the likelihood that the beavers will stay in the transplant location and establish successfully,” Altermatt said. “Sometimes this process can take time as the beavers are often caught one at a time.”
The new beaver holding facility is designed to hold up to four family groups and will increase the number of beavers translocated each year in the Cody Region and adjacent regions by quadrupling the capacity for trapping and holding beavers. Prior to the facility, beavers were housed in a special trailer, but the space was small and could only be used temporarily.
“The facility provides a secure location to house beavers and allows for more flexibility for pausing and resuming trapping efforts as necessary to allow trap-shy beavers to settle down,” Altermatt said. “In addition, the holding facility will allow the opportunity to pair up individuals that are not established mated pairs, improving the success of establishment after translocation.”
Beavers are considered a keystone species, meaning they have a disproportionately large effect on their environment relative to their abundance. Game and Fish also call them ecosystem engineers because by building dams, beavers slow the movement of water, trapping sediment and slowly raising the stream bed over time, which restores eroded streams. The dams also raise the water table and expand riparian habitats, the areas adjacent to streams that can support water-loving plants like willows, says Game and Fish.
The facility materials were paid for entirely with private donations, and Game and Fish personnel built the facility. An individual donation of $60,000 was made by a Park County resident. The WYldlife Fund and Wyoming Untrapped also contributed funds.
