Salinas River
The Atascadero Mutual Water Company’s weather station reports 14.13 inches of rain so far in the 2025-2026 rain year. Much of this rain fell during the second half of December. According to the National Weather Service, Atascadero received 5.04 inches of rain during the first storm leading up to Christmas Day, and another 2.05 inches during the second storm around New Year’s Day. Wow!
So… how have the beavers been faring with all that rain?
We went out on January 1st to check out the Salinas River, and it was rushing! Many beaver dams washed out during this set of storms.
We saw signs of recent beaver activity, such as the chewed tree pictured above. We can tell this chew is fresh because of the wood chips underneath it.
A couple of dams still remain in Atascadero, but the water is so high that it’s flowing right over the dams:
We observed Atascadero beavers adding new dams to their complex as late as November 2025. Now, we wait to see where they will rebuild once the water goes down.
Pismo Creek & Arroyo Grande Creek
Pismo Creek also has high flow from the recent storms. A number of dams washed out, although we were able to observe one dam still intact with water flowing over the top of it:
In Arroyo Grande, a resident reported seeing a beaver walking down her street on the morning of December 24th! It is likely that the beaver was trying to find higher ground during the storms.
If you live in Five Cities and have photos or stories that you’d like to share of the beaver dams on Arroyo Grande Creek or Pismo Creek, please reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!
Beaver Dam Monitoring
Beaver dam monitoring is a community effort! Springtime is an especially important time of the year for people to keep an eye out for the beavers. We need to know where beavers are starting to build so we can ensure that their new dams do not get damaged by human activity. We rely on a network of volunteers who help us monitor the beaver dams—it’s always fascinating to go out to the river or creek and see what the beavers have been up to since our last visit.
Do you enjoy observing beaver activity? If you’re interested in volunteering with our Beaver Dam Monitoring Program, reach out to us at info@slobeaverbrigade.com.