News release: Beavers are back on Tule River Tribe lands in the Southern Sierra Nevada
After years of work by the Tule River Tribe, a family of seven beavers has been released into the South Fork Tule River watershed on the Tule River Indian Reservation as part of a multi-year beaver reintroduction effort done in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Beavers play a critical role in the ecology and stewardship of the land. They build dams that retain water on the landscape, extending seasonal flows, increasing summer baseflows, improving drought and wildfire resilience and better conserving the Tribe’s drinking water supply, of which about 80% comes from the Tule River watershed. CDFW wildlife biologists also expect to eventually see better habitat conditions for a number of endangered amphibian and riparian-obligate bird species, including foothill and southern mountain yellow-legged frogs, western pond turtle, least Bell’s vireo and southwestern willow flycatcher.