Courtesy - District of Vanderhoof

By Cheryl Jahn

Beaver Dams used to trap water

Jul 14, 2025 | 2:15 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – For years, Vanderhoof has been experiencing drought, and for a community that is heavily invested in agriculture, that’s an issue.

“We’ve got 32 streams. Most of the farming communities have seen drought over successive years. How do we hold back water? Somewhere along the line, NEWSS found out that building beaver dams can hold back water and then ultimately replenish aquifers, which is pretty key to irrigation and, you know, feeding and watering the livestock,” says Brian Frenkel, Councillor on the District of Vanderhoof Council.

“These streams are all non-natal nursery streams that are absolutely critically important to salmon survival,” explains Wayne Salewski, Chair, Nechako Environment Water Stewardship Society.

So the community has joined forces with the BC Wildlife Federation on a project to build beaver dams on those streams to trap water.

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“We’re trying to acknowledge we’re going to have bad beavers, bad locations, bad choices,” says Salewski. “The Ministry of Highways is very, very concerned about that issue. But we’re actually working with Highways and their contractors, YRB, to actually pull this off, and we’re pumped and the evidence is there.” The use of man-made beaver dams is not new. It’s been used on Clayoquot Sound, and numerous watersheds in the US.

“Beaver Dam analogues are not new in North America, but certainly new in British Columbia. We’ve worked with the Province and Province permitters to change policies. How can we do this? How can the Province be a partner in this issue?”

And now the community waits.

“The wells are all beside these beaver dams to see the water level rise, to see the pressure to get all of that data together, to see whether we do that, because we’ve spent decades getting rid of beavers on creeks in our area. And here we are trying to go to the agricultural community, saying we want them back,” says Frenkel.

The Nechako Environment Water Stewardship Society has installed over 40 beaver dams, all of which are on known Chinook salmon streams and private agricultural land.