In 2015, Cal Trans built a new overpass near Salinas, CA.
The area is primarily agricultural, which means the streams have gotten squeezed on all sides, and habitat is hard to come by. As part of the build, Cal Trans restored a section of stream to its historic width, did a ton of planting, and inadvertently made a starter beaver pond. So the beavers moved right in, built a dam, and…started saturating their brand new roadbed. So I put in a pond leveler and dropped the water level a foot, which dried out the roadbed. Problem solved, habitat retained, beavers and red legged frogs and western pond turtles and humans—everybody wins. Maintenance after a year consisted of picking a handful of debris off the cage. It took 5 minutes, and I did it in sandals.
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