A Story of Stream Restoration by Beaver!

In the spring of 2017, Tracy Hames, wetland hydrologist and Executive Director of Wisconsin Wetlands Association, led a group of Friends’ members on an assessment tour of the North Pikes Creek’s headwaters. In the top photo, Tracy is explaining why this section of creek was, at the time, “a classic example of a stream in decline.” He explained that what was once an active beaver pond had become a stream with a deep V-channel and eroded banks when the beaver were removed and their dams breached. A thick carpet of invasive reed canary grass completely filled the previously ponded area. Tracy observed that to restore this section of North Pikes Creek to a healthy, functioning waterway, the beaver needed to return and repair the dams that had been removed. He also noted that the resulting flooding would effectively kill the invasive reed canary grass that had colonized the formerly ponded area. The return of the ponds would, additionally, raise the water table and improve the forest hydrology in the adjacent lowland coniferous forest, where the cedar trees were showing obvious signs of distress from the lowered water table. The return of the ponds would also create additional habitat for large numbers of species reliant on such habitats.

The lower photo, taken this spring, shows that the beaver did exactly as Tracy had hoped. Beaver returned to this damaged section of North Pikes Creek in 2020, began repairing the dam, ponded the area, and drowned the invasive grass. What had become a textbook example of a stream in decline after the removal of beavers over a decade ago, is now, in 2021, a beautiful, well-functioning pond that provides habitat for the 32 rare, threatened, and endangered species that inhabit these beaver wetlands.

This successful remediation on Landmark Conservancy property, not far south of Beaver Hollow, was accomplished free of charge by an industrious pair of beavers! This upper section of the North Pikes Creek watershed was once a series of ponds that stair-stepped down the creek in the headwaters. Left alone to do what beavers do, they will eventually restore the remaining sections of stream damaged by their removal, thereby improving the health of the entire watershed.

To view a Story Map with revealing aerial photos of this area, go to https://arcg.is/1D5GGj and read the story of North Pikes Creek’s headwaters.