In this painting I use a series of circles to look at how a degraded, semi-arid stream can change after reducing cattle grazing pressure and allowing beavers to move in. This was inspired by my time doing stream habitat assessments in Northeast Nevada where I saw streams in many conditions.

Beaver need willow and riparian woody vegetation as both food and building material. When grazing is poorly managed, these plants can become decimated to the point beavers aren’t able to live there. Lack of vegetation and beaver to stabilize stream banks and absorb hydraulic energy usually leads to increased erosion, channel incision, and floodplain disconnection. The top circle shows what streams are like in areas where over-grazing and beaver removal have led to extremely degraded riparian habitat. The following two circles show expanding vegetation and watery habitat as the stream recovers once grazing pressure has been reduced.

As much as livestock grazing has the ability to absolutely wreak havoc on watersheds, I don’t believe it’s a this or that situation. Responsible, ecologically-informed livestock grazing can absolutely coexist with healthy streams. I recommend this video if you’re interested in learning more about the transformation of a stream in Nevada (one I visited, nonetheless!) where they changed the grazing schedule which allowed riparian vegetation to reestablish and beaver to move in.