By: Noeka Nimmervoll, Staff Writer

Delaney Hall, wildlife technician at the Okanagan Nation Alliance and member of the Osoyoos Indian Band, is spearheading a project to rebuild beaver dams in the traditional syilx Okanagan Territory. This project, in partnership with the BC Wildlife Federation, restores the wetlands by implementing beaver dam analogues (BDAs) — a human mimicry of beaver dams — with the ultimate goal of restoring the beaver population.

Long considered a nuisance species, beavers are showing their integral role in the ecosystem, as the land has become dry without their presence. Beaver dams slow the flow of water in streams by depositing saplings, branches, twigs, leaves, and mud, increasing the water level in the river and flooding the surrounding wetlands. The Peak spoke to Hall to learn more. 

Around 90% of the Okanagan’s wetlands are dry. “More of our creeks, which used to run all year round, are starting to go dry nowadays,” said Hall.

“We’re looking to restore and enhance these wetlands up in the headwaters and stuff, all for the purpose of returning beavers back into the highlands.”

 — Delaney Hall, wildlife technician at the Okanagan Nation Alliance

Prior to the Hudson Bay Company’s wide trapping of beavers, up to 400 million beavers lived in Canada. “And now they estimate there’s like 6 to 12 million beavers,” shared Hall.

With the implementation of BDAs, water can be distributed through the land again. Wetlands are a crucial source of food for many fish, mammals, and birds through the presence of vegetation, zooplankton, and insect larvae. Additionally, beaver dams and BDAs provide critical spawning habitats for fish by slowing down the water and regulating temperatures. 

So far, the project has led to the building of 17 structures along Coteay Creek’s headwaters. The team has built a combination of BDAs and post-assisted log structures, which is “just a fancy name for a log jam, really, to help encourage meandering of the river,” said Hall. Ultimately, he said, “We hope to do all the waterways within our nation.”

Hall shared the project’s significance to the syilx people, many of whom maintain their food sovereignty traditions. He recalled that, in his teenage years, he began to notice the consistent decline of fish and animals in the area. “A lot of our people don’t go to the grocery store. We still depend on what we get from the land. And when you’re watching it go down every year, it’s tough to see.

“Beavers are a keystone species. Their whole job is to manage water — they manage water for everything on this planet — and all species depend on water to survive. And these beavers create that critical habitat for them.”