Humbug Valley Beaver Conservation Translocation
Summary
SCH Number
2023100844
Public Agency
Fish and Wildlife (Headquarters), Wildlife and Fisheries Division – Sacramento
Document Title
Humbug Valley Beaver Conservation Translocation
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
10/27/2023
Document Description
The project will re-establish a breeding population of North American beavers (Castor canadensis) in Humbug Valley. Multiple family groups and/or individuals will be captured from healthy source populations, quarantined, and released into the valley watershed over a 3- to 5-year period. All beavers will be uniquely tagged and a portion of the beavers with be fitted with transmitters. The beavers will be monitored for population establishment and a variety of ecosystem parameters will be monitored over time to evaluate overall success of the project.
Contact Information
Name
Valerie Cook
Agency Name
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Job Title
Environmental Program Manager
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Location
Counties
Plumas
Regions
Unincorporated
Other Location Info
Humbug Valley
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Class 7, 8; California Code of Regulations, title 14, sections 15307, 15308
Reasons for Exemption
This project is for the maintenance, restoration, and enhancement of the natural resources and environment within and adjacent to Humbug Valley and the Yellow/Humbug Creek watershed, ultimately for the overarching objective of protecting the environment. Beavers serve critical ecological roles as both ecosystem engineers and a keystone species; they are a virtually untapped resource in California’s fight against our greatest ecological threats: climate change, drought, wildfires, and habitat loss. The establishment of beavers within Humbug Valley is expected to ultimately result in the engineering of an extensive wetland complex that increases carbon sequestration, reduces downstream sediment transport and deposition, repairs channel incisions, reconnects the streams to their floodplain, increases riparian vegetation/habitat, and creates critical habitat for both wetland- and riparian-obligate species, as well as increases habitat complexity to provide suitable habitat necessary for multiple taxa, species, and life stages within. Further, the retention of water on the landscape is expected to increase groundwater recharge, improve summer baseflows, extend seasonal flows, and increase fuel moisture during wildfire season, effectively creating a green belt that can serve as wildfire buffers or breaks and provide refugia for wildlife.
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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