Once hunted for their pelts, beavers are back in demand, not for their bodies but for their minds—specifically, for their engineering skills. As changing climate leaves streams short on water in the summer, researchers are betting that the industrious rodents could provide a natural solution.
Based on a survey of how dams store water, the Lands Council in Washington State predicts that reintroducing beavers to 10,000 miles of suitable habitat in the state could help retain more than 650 trillion gallons of spring runoff, which would slowly be released by the animals’ naturally leaky dams…