North America’s largest rodent is moving north partly because of climate change.
, a yearly report that tracks changes in the region. That’s because they are damming rivers and creating deeper, warmer ponds that open up new types of aquatic habitat. “The key question to ask, wherever you’re standing in the Arctic, is, ‘How long will it be until beavers get there?’” said Ken Tape, an ecologist studying beaver expansion at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “Because when they get there, it’ll never be the same again.
Harris worries that beavers swimming in the reservoir that supplies Kotzebue’s drinking water could overwhelm the community water treatment plant. Beavers carry the giardia parasite, which they excrete into the environment, and water contaminated with their feces can cause intestinal infections. Harris and others used to drink directly from rivers on their hunting and fishing trips, but today they’re having second thoughts.
Selawik, about 80 miles to the east, is a beaver hotspot, too, and some are upset that the animals are blocking hunting access by boat. “Elders said to start getting rid of the beavers, but nobody listened, and now it’s overpopulated,” said Ralph Ramoth Jr. , a subsistence hunter who also works for the local airport and his town’s road, water, and sewer department. Lodges up to 15 feet tall make navigating sloughs to hunt moose on the periphery challenging.
Hunters like Ramoth regard beavers as pests, and Harris wants to see beaver population-control efforts. But others argue that the beavers aren’t necessarily creating a better or worse tundra—just a different one. Kramer considers them a blessing for habitat diversity. “They’ve enhanced our land in an incredible way when they do come up,” Kramer said. “They make lakes and ponds and bigger sloughs, which makes for more moose, ducks, waterfowl, and muskrat.
Scientists will continue to monitor beaver activity and its possible environmental impacts. One major question remains unanswered: Are beavers accelerating climate change in the region? The pools of water that their dams create are warmer than the surrounding soil, and that could thaw permafrost and release carbon and methane greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. “Beavers are maybe a player,” said Christina Schädel, a professor who studies permafrost at Northern Arizona University.
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