BEAVERS & PEOPLE COLLABORATE
To Restore Local Wetlands
Volunteers from Stillwaters, the S’Klallam tribe, and the Kingston community donned muck boots and met for a muddy work party in mid-March to plant native willow and black twinberry along Carpenter Creek. In 2019, Keith and Michelle Beebe assigned almost 8 acres of wetlands on both sides of Barber Cut Off Road to a conservation easement held by Stillwaters. Thanks to a grant from the Kitsap Conservation District’s Backyard Habitat program, a wetland restoration plan has been developed, starting with replacing invasive plants with native vegetation.
County crews recently cleared beaver construction in the Barber Cut Off Rd culvert to keep the creek from crossing over the road during heaving rains. “On the bright side, it gave us an opportunity to put more native plants in where the beaver pond had been.” said Keith Beebe. The planting party happened just in time as the beavers have already started rebuilding. “Their activities will do way more than we can to repair these wetlands.“
County crews recently cleared beaver construction in the Barber Cut Off Rd culvert to keep the creek from crossing over the road during heaving rains. “On the bright side, it gave us an opportunity to put more native plants in where the beaver pond had been.” said Keith Beebe. The planting party happened just in time as the beavers have already started rebuilding. “Their activities will do way more than we can to repair these wetlands.“
The Beebe-Stillwaters Conservation Easement protects the creek from the outlet of Carpenter Lake, under Barber Cut Off Rd, and through the woods on the east side. Keyla and Anna Beebe recently took over the property on the west side of the road and, like their parents, are collaborating with Stillwaters on its restoration. Ultimately, the Beebes hope to work with the Kingston community to extend trails from downtown Kingston across their property to Gordon Elementary and Carpenter Lake Park.
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Segments of Carpenter Creek between Highway 104 and Barber Cut Off Rd are ideal breeding habitat for salmonids (salmon and their kin, cutthroat trout and steelhead). Numerous “exceptionally healthy and robust” young coho salmon were found here during a Wild Fish Conservancy survey in May 2011.
Beavers are good neighbors for salmon and trout, providing rich, quiet pools for young fish to shelter, feed and grow. Coho spend their first two years in freshwater and pools behind beaver dams provide cool summer refuges for them in Kitsap lowland streams. Beaver dams are not barriers to fish passage. Young fish find ways through and around them, while adult fish jump them easily when creek waters rise during fall rains when they come upstream to spawn.
If you are interested in joining future work parties or finding out more about conservation easements or the trail plan, please contact Keith Beebe (360-337-0125 or kbeebe9791@gmail.com) or Stillwaters Program Director, Melissa Fleming (360-297-1226 or melissa@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org).
Beavers are good neighbors for salmon and trout, providing rich, quiet pools for young fish to shelter, feed and grow. Coho spend their first two years in freshwater and pools behind beaver dams provide cool summer refuges for them in Kitsap lowland streams. Beaver dams are not barriers to fish passage. Young fish find ways through and around them, while adult fish jump them easily when creek waters rise during fall rains when they come upstream to spawn.
If you are interested in joining future work parties or finding out more about conservation easements or the trail plan, please contact Keith Beebe (360-337-0125 or kbeebe9791@gmail.com) or Stillwaters Program Director, Melissa Fleming (360-297-1226 or melissa@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org).