Sep. 13--INCHELIUM, Wash. -- The beaver huffed indignantly as Rick Desautel prodded it into a wire cage. The night before, it had followed its nose to a musky scent along the shoreline of North Twin Lake on the Colville Reservation and ended up in Desautel's trap.
Two hundred years ago, trappers would have shipped the beaver's glossy pelt to Europe to meet an insatiable demand for beaverskin hats. But Desautel, an animal control officer for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, had other plans.
The beaver and four others were released into a creek in the San Poil watershed, where their dam-building skills will help hold back water and restore wetlands trampled by cattle.
Once trapped to near extinction, beavers are on the rebound. As populations increase, North America's largest rodents are gaining scientists' respect. Ponds and wetlands created by beaver dams provide rich habitat for other wildlife. And in the parched West, beaver dams could help mitigate the impact...
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