The Wildlife Society | Oct 9, 2020
When looking at an area damaged by wildlife, a team of biologists found that fires didn’t burn intensely in areas near beaver dams but burned on average three times less than areas without beavers. Burning areas where beavers built their dams is “like trying to light a big old soggy sponge on fire,” said Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor at the California State University Channel Islands and the first author of a study published recently in Ecological Applications.
The researchers suggest that beavers may be able to build fire resilience just as well as landscape managers. As a result, managers may be able to place beavers strategically on the landscape to build fire resilience and protect human infrastructure.
