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2023: Historically, there were about 50 active beaver ponds on Pebble Creek. Currently (2023), NO beavers exist on Pebble Creek, and there have been none here for more than 15 years. The ecological health of the valley is deeply impacted byt this loss, with many animals and plants extirpated from the valley. Restoring them would be the single biggest action we could do to restore our ecological health.
Summary background is HERE
Background: For eons, beavers have been a key component of the ecological health of Pebble Creek valley. The dozens of ponds that they created have provided homes for fish, waterfowl, other mammals, amphibians, and insects, as well as interesting plants. The ponds attract a host of additional mammals and birds, and recharge ground water below their dams. 
They even provide an emergency source of water for humans (for example, pulling out a dam with a pick has provided emergency water for irrigating the ranch meadow, and could help recharge Wyler Lake in a time of acute drawdown). And of course the ponds are a beautiful and welcome addition in steep terrain in a dry climate.
Dozens of beaver ponds were a steady presence from 1936 (when Bulah Walls arrived - see poster at right) until the mid-1980s, when the first crash occurred, and the beavers disappeared entirely from the valley. In 1990, Sherri Tippie reintroduced six beavers, and they thrived, restoring nearly the entire population during the 1990s and early 2000s. Then, around 2006, the population was again totally decimated. The dams failed and the ponds emptied. Update: In April 2012, a few beavers reappeared, and reestablished several ponds and a few lodges in the region at the bottom of the ranch meadow, just above Wyler Pond. It was hoped that they would spread upstream to their rich, unoccupied former habitat at the "upper ponds." Curiously, they started to do so, reestablishing the "First Pond" and satellites (just below the irrigation ditch) in 2015 and 2016, but then abandoning the project. In 2017, they made no attempt to move upstream, and while beavers were observed in the spring, by the summer and fall, all signs of recent beaver activity were gone. It seems that, once again, Pebble Creek has lost entirely its primary keystone species. |
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