Beavers are known to settle in freshwater lakes and rivers, so a tidally salty wetland might seem like a strange place to search for beavers. But in Washington, beavers have made their home at the salty Elwha delta which was only recently reformed after two dams in the area were removed in the biggest dam removal project in history.
The fact that beavers have made a salty wetland their home is already remarkable, but what’s even more fascinating is that the beavers’ ecosystem engineering is believed to be responsible for the recovery of the threatened Chinook salmon, whose overall population has declined by 60 percent since 1984. Since the dams were removed and the beavers moved into the delta, the salmon population has already doubled.
Beavers and salmon; it’s a fascinating cross-species connection that you can read further about right here.
