Flooding effect on beaver population

I don't think flooding makes a big difference normally as every year we have flooding in winter months. But this last event might be different with rivers going over their banks in western Oregon and the early litters of beaver and otter kits most likely already born. (Western Oregon got hit last week with a "pineapple express" that brought record rainfall and melted a lot of snowpack).

Time will tell. I'm guessing we will see less yearlings next winter.

I don't know, they aren't having little ones yet here, for another 6 weeks or more, in my opinion, and the young can swim, I believe right away..

We can float and shoot them here it's popular during the spring flooding from what I have seen they find a cut bank and dig a hole into the bank and wait it out, a .22 and a dip net and 3 bobs is what you have to work with.

I know down here they have high water dens they use during flooding which is normal here, happens all the time so they have adapted to it best I can tell. Instead of making food catch's at the bottom of ponds our's make high water den's. More just go with the flow and end up in a ditch somewhere, a pond, etc.

I don't think it affect's them like it does other animals.

Seen it happen before and it does make a difference IMO.

The local rivers here got so high so quick there was nowhere for the mothers to put their offspring even if they were going to try.

every extreme change in weather affects animals IMO

Spring flooding here pushes beaver back up where the water has returned.Headwaters of streams where the bush run-off replenishes dry areas newly available to beaver to dam up.Drought has the opposite effect in summer.If its dry enough that the bush run-off ponds of spring dry up,beaver move back down to rivers and lakes.They will migrate back up in the fall on the September rains.These beaver may freeze out in a bad winter,leaving these spots available the next time spring floods are sufficient enough to replenish bush run-off ponds.

What Boco said. We had multiple high water events late winter into the last few weeks of the season. I found beaver way upstream in trickles that had a foot or 2 water in them. As long as there were willow patches or mulberry.

That river is silt based it's not called the White river for a reason, from the air it looks like a big stain flowing into the Missouri river. Its like cement one minute the quicksand other times depending on the water content. I think deep den digging is not option in the higher areas so they dig pockets along the walls. It last about a week then the water is back to normal.

Beaver can find shelter in any old rack heap .they dont need much shelter. The kits get that way real quick .

I've seen that. Looks like a bank den without much for a roof so the reinforced it.

Law Dog- I'd love to create a 3-d model of the White River's "delta" into and under the Missouri in Lake Francis Case. Could do it with the old pre-dam topo maps and then sonar measurements on a specific grid and then measure the differences and then model the voids in between. But maybe the ACoE doesn't want to know the results! Someday, the gov will probably have to start dredging parts of that area because it will eventually causes problems in the flow of the Missouri, especially at high water times. Lots and lots of mud down there...

Sorry to hijack the beaver thread.

Seen it too DDT Actually quite often here with bank dens. If the beaver stay around the sticks will eventually be packed with mud to reinforce the den.

Depends on the river size. When those smaller streams/ rivers flash flood, beaver die. You will see a severe beaver decrease when this happens in the bluff country here. Big Rivers, not usually an issue.

Dirty dog, I see that quite bit on the coastal lakes too.

The way the Willamette was rolling even if those kits could swim they likely were lost. By the time they could make land they might have gone 2 miles down stream and still dependent on mom's milk.

Beaver houses here often start out as those bank dens.Beaver dig into the bank under water,then dig up.Often thru the top of the bank.They continue to pile sticks and mud on top as they raise the water by raising the dam.As the water rises they continue to dig/chew up into the pile of debris,creating a chamber which continues to get bigger and bigger as the water rises.Eventually the original creek bank becomes the sleeping platform inside the lodge chamber,when the pond forms.
Not all those bank dens however are turned into lodges.
If you see those piles of sticks on the creek banks,be careful walking around there as old ones can collapse and you will find yourself in a deep hole,often up to your chest.