Western Beavers Cooperative works at the intersection of people, place, and practice - learning from the land and each other to support beavers and resilient working landscapes across the Oregon high desert.
We work with landowners, agencies and local partners to bring beaver-specific knowledge, technical guidance and added capacity to planning and work on the ground.
Our Services
- Beaver and Stream Assessments Our survey crews conduct watershed-scale assessments to understand where beavers are active, where they are likely to persist, and what may be limiting their success. Using our internally developed Beaver Strongholds Framework, we build on tools such as BRAT by adding field-based information on occupancy, forage, riparian condition and persistence readiness. This helps partners move from broad habitat potential to practical decisions about where restoration, protection and monitoring can have the greatest impact.
- Technical Guidance for Beaver Habitat We provide technical guidance to landowners, agencies and restoration partners on preparing streams and riparian areas for long-term beaver persistence - including habitat establishment, monitoring and adaptive management. The goal is not simply to plant more vegetation or complete a restoration project, but to build the conditions beavers need to settle, raise families and remain over time.
- Coexistence and Technical Assistance Where people and beavers share working landscapes, challenges will sometimes arise. We help landowners and partners work through places where beaver activity and human needs intersect - understanding what is happening, weighing practical options and finding workable ways to protect infrastructure and land uses while allowing beavers to remain whenever possible.
- Local Capacity and Beaver Support We work alongside local partners who already know their communities and landscapes, adding beaver-specific expertise, facilitation and extra capacity where it can help move the work forward. That can include field learning, workshops, peer exchange, planning support and bringing together people who are working through similar questions in different places.
How We Work
We don’t arrive with a pre-set solution. We work alongside people who know their land and water best, bringing together local knowledge, field observation, beaver ecology and land-management realities. We increasingly look beyond individual sites toward whole streams and watersheds - and the conditions needed for beavers to persist over generations.
Why It Matters
Nearly two centuries ago, beavers were deliberately removed from much of the West. Their loss helped unravel many of the wet meadows, complex channels and riparian systems they had shaped over generations. Beavers are returning to some places, but their ability to remain and expand is uneven. In Eastern Oregon, success depends not only on whether beavers can reach a stream, but whether the land can support them and whether people have the resources and support needed to share those landscapes with them.
Looking Ahead
By 2041, we envision Eastern Oregon watersheds where beavers can establish and persist across connected stream systems, supported by healthy riparian communities, thoughtful land management and strong local capacity.
The goal is communities with the knowledge, relationships and resources to carry this work forward themselves.