Come to a beaver pond!
Come learn about our neighbors, the beavers! We offer guided tours of beaver habitat in San Luis Obispo County. Together we will visit a river or creek where beavers live. Your guides will share information about beavers, how to identify signs of beaver activity, and the many ways that beavers benefit our ecosystems. These tours are geared toward adults, but are open to all ages. All of our public tours are free of charge thanks to grant funding from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Detailed directions will be emailed to you 1 week prior to the scheduled date.
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Watery Walks 101
On this guided tour, you will learn about beaver basics such as:
- beaver habits
- what beavers eat
- how to identify signs of beaver activity
- why beavers build dams
- how beaver dams help during wildfires
- how beaver dams provide resiliency during multi-year droughts
- how beaver dams improve water quality
- and so much more!!
But most importantly, you will get to immerse yourself in the wet, lush habitat created by this keystone species in the middle of our arid county. You won’t be disappointed.
On tours of the Salinas River, please come prepared to walk through sandy terrain to reach the river. Please also come prepared to walk in water, which may reach above your knees in some spots.
Yes! Our public tours are typically geared toward adults, but all ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied and supervised by a responsible adult.
Please note that our tours can involve a lot of walking, which may be tiring for very small children. At some sites we walk about 1/2 mile, while at other sites we may walk up to 2 miles. If you have questions about the amount of walking required on a particular tour, please contact us at info@slobeaverbrigade.com for more information.
Probably not. It is very rare to see beavers on these tours because beavers in our region are mostly active at night.
Probably. Beaver dams may wash out during storms, so especially during the early spring, we cannot guarantee that there will be intact beaver dams to visit on the tour. We choose the tour location the week before each tour so that we can bring you to the area with the most beaver activity. If you really want to see a beaver dam, summer tour dates are better because the beavers will have had more time to rebuild their dams.
Most of our tours take place on the Salinas River in Atascadero, but some tours are located in Pismo Beach along Pismo Creek. Please double check the tour location when you sign up.
The river is dynamic, and conditions change based on time of year, weather events, and beaver activity. We select tour locations based on where the beavers are most active at that time. We send out exact meeting place information by email one week before the tour date.
Walking in water is required on our Watery Walks in Atascadero, and the water gets knee-deep in some spots. While we don’t spent the entire tour in the water, walking through water is necessary at multiple points during the tour. If you join one of our tours on the Salinas River, please come prepared to get your feet and legs wet.
If you are unable or unwilling to wade in water, please sign up for one of our Pismo Creek tours. Our Pismo Watery Walks take place on a paved, wheelchair-accessible trail, and we do not enter the water at all.
We typically offer wheelchair accessible tours in Pismo Beach where there are active beaver dams that are visible from a paved trail. We do our best to offer these but can’t always guarantee that they will be available, as it depends on where the beavers build their dams.
We are always looking for additional sites for wheelchair accessible tours. If you know of a wheelchair accessible location with visible beaver dams, let us know!
Yes! We happily offer field trips for school groups. We recommend field trips for 4th grade and up, although we can provide field trips for younger students as well. If you’re interested in scheduling a field trip, please contact info@slobeaverbrigade.com with your request.
Yes! We offer private tours of beaver habitat in Atascadero, CA. This 2-hour guided tour can accommodate up to 24 people. Learn more about booking a private tour.
Email us at info@slobeaverbrigade.com and we will be happy to help you.
Ready to sign up?