Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Beaver Tracking Study Taking Place In Valley And Phillips County

Researcher Asking Area Landowners To Be Involved

Do you live in Valley or Phillips County and have beavers on your property? Curious about what they do when water sources start to dry out in the summer? Reach out to Colleen Piper, PhD student at University of Montana, to become part of cutting-edge, prairie beaver research.

Beavers play an important role in the prairie environment, with their ability to dam and store water. Beavers rely heavily on water as an escape route from predators and depend on woody plants as a food source and building material. However, there is virtually no published information on what these handy critters do in hot, seasonally dry areas on the prairie with limited available woody materials. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is partnering with Piper on this important study to find out where beavers go and what they do.

Piper plans to attach GPS transmitters to beavers in the northern Great Plains from May through August of 2024 and 2025 to track their movement, behavior, and survival when water begins to dry in the hot, summer months.

If you have beavers on your property and want to track their movements, or if you want more information about the project, please contact Piper at [email protected]. As a bonus, you will get to “name” any beavers caught on your land!

 

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