Stewardship Showcase: Culvert Cloggers or Climate Heroes?
Building Momentum for Beaver Coexistence in Waterton Biosphere Region
Beavers have always sparked strong opinions. For some, they are landscape vandals – culvert cloggers, tree toppers and dam-building troublemakers who flood fields and frustrate farmers. For others, they are ecosystem engineers and nature’s best firefighters. As climate change accelerates and Alberta faces mounting water challenges, one thing is becoming clearer – the beaver may be a keystone species we cannot afford to ignore.
In the Waterton Biosphere Region (WBR), attitudes toward beavers are shifting. More landowners are recognizing their value in supporting healthy watersheds – their activity on the landscape helping to store water during drought and slow it during floods. But the question remains: how do we balance their benefits with the very real impacts they can have on infrastructure and livelihoods?
With support from the 2024 Watershed Stewardship Grant (WSG), the WBR launched a project designed to answer that question – not just in theory but on the ground and in the field. Their initiative, Building Momentum for Beaver Coexistence, aimed to move past presentations to hands-on learning, real-world demonstrations and tangible coexistence tools landowners and land managers could see and touch.
In the summer of 2024, WBR hosted a workshop at the Palmer Ranch, south of Pincher Creek, that brought together a diverse and curious crowd: agricultural producers, environmental NGOs, government staff and even a registered fur trapper. Whether they came seeking solutions to persistent culvert flooding or just wanted to learn what coexistence could look like, participants arrived ready to get hands-on and feet-wet.
The workshop site itself was no abstract case study, and workshop participants saw first hand how beaver coexistence tools are used. On the ranch, daily maintenance was required to prevent beavers from blocking culvert standpipes and compromising access road integrity. It was the perfect setting to install and test a dual intake and culvert protection system – a non-lethal tool that balances beaver activity with human infrastructure.
According to Elizabeth Anderson, WBR Conservation Biologist, the impact was immediate and lasting.
“We know beavers can create amazing wetland and riparian habitats that support many species, improve drought and flood resiliency, increase ground water storage and filter sediments. But we also know they can create very real problems. The solution installed during the workshop offered a workable balance. It now serves as a demonstration site where others are welcome to come see a beaver coexistence tool in operation.”
The use of beaver coexistence tools and techniques resulted in an immediate site-level impact, but the benefits of this project will extend far beyond one location. WBR will continue to advance long-term coexistence across the broader Waterton Biosphere Region by directing landowners with conflicts to the site to see a working solution in action. The project has furthered understanding of beaver ecology and non-lethal conflict mitigation options. That momentum has already catalyzed a new initiative now underway, which explores the conditions necessary for beaver relocation on private lands.
For WBR, funding from the WSG was the spark that made this work possible.
“Watershed Stewardship Grant funding is essential to our work at the Waterton Biosphere Region,” explains Nora Manners, WBR Executive Director. “It helps us connect with landowners, strengthen local stewardship and support practical, on-the-ground conservation. Programs like this empower communities and ensure watershed efforts are guided by local knowledge and leadership.”
By inviting landowners to roll up their sleeves and engage directly with coexistence tools, WBR is building more than a demonstration site – they’re building trust and contributing to a new culture of coexistence by advancing understanding and acceptance of beavers on the landscape in southwestern Alberta.
In a world where watershed health is closely tied to community resilience, this kind of momentum matters.
Building Momentum for Beaver Coexistence
Feature photos of Waterton Biosphere Region's beaver coexistence workshop and participant involvement, courtesy of Thomas Porter, WBR.
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