Thursday August 10, 2023
San Luis Obispo Tribune —
Through a game camera tucked sneakily in the brush on the Salinas River in Atascadero, researchers could see an entire ecosystem be rebuilt after intense winter storms ravaged the landscape.
In June, a small beaver family gathered sticks from nearby willow trees and constructed a dam to slow the flow of the river and create a pond that would provide habitat for a plethora of wildlife, improve down-river water quality and help recharge the area’s groundwater basin.
In mid-July — about six days after the beavers seemed to have completed their engineering feat — the game camera captured the loud snapping of sticks and a car’s roaring engine as it cut through the evening silence, its driver revving it up in an attempt to drive over the dam.
After the unsuccessful attempt to drive over the dam, the passengers then got out of the car and began tearing apart the beaver dam with shovels.