Reintroducing Beavers to Facilitate Riparian Restoration on the Zuni Reservation

Planned and implemented by the Tribe’s Fish and Wildlife Department, this unique program of watershed restoration and riparian conservation has been rooted in traditional Zuni cultural values. The causes of degradation were man-made dams, channelization, and invasive plant encroachment (i.e. Tamarix pentandra). The project reintroduced 23 beavers to sites with impaired hydrologic flow regimes, in addition to riparian restoration methodologies as eliminating invasive species, reshaping channelized watercourses, excluding sensitive areas from grazing and conducting revegetation with native species. The project seen an increase in available surface and subsurface water, reduced erosion and sedimentation, fewer invasive tamarisk trees and marked improvement in the quality of adjacent riparian habitats.