Beavers fueled an 18th and 19th century rush to the western half of North America by mountain men, and veered towards extinction due to that, before making a comeback in the 20th century. Today, while many communities view the rodents as nuisances that dam creeks and chew down trees, the National Park Service is turning to these ecological engineers to revive wetlands in the National Park System.

By encouraging beavers back into parks, natural resource managers can entice a regrowth of native vegetation and create sancturaries of a kind not just for beavers, but for many other plant and animal species.