Livestock grazing limits beaver restoration in northern New Mexico

Despite intensive efforts to reintroduce beavers into areas where they are severely reduced in numbers or eliminated due to over-harvesting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, beavers remain sparse or or missing from many stream reaches. In this study, beaver dams mostly occurred at sites that were not grazed or where there was some alternative grazing management, but were mostly absent at sites within Forest Service cattle allotments. Results indicated that cattle grazing influenced the relation between vegetation variables and beaver presence. We recommend that beaver restoration will require changes to current livestock management practices.