(From the CDFW Beaver Webpage )
The CDFW Beaver Restoration Program is updating the current range map of beavers in California. To help improve this dataset and our understanding of the current range of beavers in California, the BRP is requesting submissions of additional beaver observation data.
Beavers were once one of the most widely distributed mammals in North America. However, by the late 1800s beavers were eliminated from much of their range due to unregulated trapping for the fur trade. In California, beaver populations were further impacted during the 1900s by habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict. With the growing recognition of the beaver’s role in ecosystem restoration and conservation and CDFW’s budding beaver restoration objectives, a better understanding of the current and historic range of Northa American beavers in California is needed. As such, the Beaver Restoration Program (BRP) is undertaking an effort to compile North American beaver (Castor canadensis) presence data from throughout the state to update CDFW’s current range map for beavers in California.
No comprehensive beaver population survey has been conducted in California. As such, the map below represents the current known range of beavers in California according to the best data currently available to CDFW.
To help improve this dataset and our understanding of the current range of beavers in California, the BRP is requesting submissions of additional beaver observation data. If you would like to submit a beaver observation (including their dams and lodges) and contribute to this mapping effort, please report your observation through CDFW’s California Beaver Observation Survey(opens in new tab).