Beaver-Mediated Riparian Habitat Restoration
Presented by: Lyn Snoddy, IDFG

Thursday, March 2nd, 7:00 PM
Room 201, Shields Building
College of Southern Idaho

This will be an IN-PERSON program
ZOOM link available for those who are out of town or
are COVID/seasonal flu/RSV hesitant.

https://csi.zoom.us/j/2730389966

American beavers (Castor canadensis) alter riparian habitat and hydrological systems through their dam-building and wood-cutting activities. Managers have been using translocated beaver as a riparian habitat restoration tool in Idaho for several decades. The factors influencing survival of relocated individuals is not clearly understood and releases are often unsuccessful. We trapped and relocated 121 nuisance beavers during the summer and autumn of 2020 and 2021 in south-central and south-western Idaho. We attached VHF transmitters to 75 beavers and subsequently documented movements, mortality, and signs of habitat alteration. Please join me to learn more about this project, beaver ecology, and a few of the tools we can use to prevent beaver-related property damage.

I grew up in south Louisiana hunting and fishing in the Atchafalaya Delta and attended LSU for undergrad. I did about 8 years of seasonal field work, which included work on many species of waterfowl, including Steller’s eiders and black brant, pygmy rabbits, moose, and ruffed grouse, before going to graduate school at Arkansas Tech to assess carrying capacity of moist-soil wetlands in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. I ended up working for the Forest Service for about 6 years as a NEPA and Litigation Coordinator on the Sawtooth National Forest and a Zone Wildlife Biologist for the Nez Perce-Clearwater NF, then landed my dream job with Fish and Game- Regional Wildlife Diversity Biologist. My background and personality put me squarely in the jack-of-all-trades category of wildlife management and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of my current position.