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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.
Sign Up!
Below are the dates of our upcoming public tours. Please choose a date/time that works best for you. Click on the date to sign up.
- Pismo Creek: Wednesday 6/25/25, 10am – 11:30am
- Salinas River (Evening Walk): Wednesday 8/6/25, 6:30pm – 8pm
- Salinas River (Evening Walk): Thursday 8/14/25, 6:30pm – 8pm
- Pismo Creek: Saturday 8/16/25, 10am-11:30am
Detailed directions and specifics will be emailed to you 1 week prior to the scheduled date.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I expect on a Watery Walk?
On this 90-minute 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 remove carbon from the atmosphere
- 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!!
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 reach above your knees in some spots.
Are children allowed on Watery Walks?
Yes! Our public tours are typically geared toward adults, but all ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied and supervised by a responsible adult.
Will we see a beaver?
Probably not. It is very rare to see beavers on these tours because beavers in our region are mostly active at night.
Will we see a beaver dam?
Probably. Beaver dams may wash out during storms, so especially during the 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.
Where are the Watery Walks located?
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.
Do you offer wheelchair accessible tours?
Yes! We offer wheelchair accessible tours in Pismo Beach. We do not go in the water on these tours. All Pismo Creek tours are wheelchair accessible.
¿Ofrecen recorridos en español?
¡Sí! Ofrecemos recorridos por hábitat de castor en español. Si desea un recorrido en español, favor de enviar un correo electrónico a info@slobeaverbrigade.com.
Yes! We offer Watery Walk tours in Spanish. If you would like to arrange a Spanish-language tour, please email info@slobeaverbrigade.com.
Watery Walks for the public
Come learn about our neighbors, the beavers! These tours are geared toward adults, but are open to all ages. All public tours offered on this page are free of charge thanks to grant funding from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
You will learn about beavers, their habits, what they eat, their lodges, why they build dams, how they help remove carbon from the atmosphere, how they help during wildfires, how they provide resiliency during multi-year droughts, how they improve water quality and so much more!! But most importantly, you will get to immerse yourself in the wet, lush, habitat created by these keystone species in the middle of our arid county. You won’t be disappointed.
Join the SLO Beaver Brigade Team on one of their monthly walks out to a beaver dam complex in San Luis Obispo County, learning about beaver sign and beaver habitat along the way. All public tours offered this year are free of charge thanks to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Have any questions about Watery Walks? Email us at info@slobeaverbrigade.com.
School Field Trips
We happily offer beaver habitat tours to school groups (recommended for 4th grade and up).
Interested in a field trip for your school? Email info@slobeaverbrigade.com.
Private Tours
We also offer private tours of beaver habitat in Atascadero, CA. This 2-hour guided tour can accommodate up to 24 people.