Beavers raising a ruckus in Northern California

It's North America's largest rodent, and in some California communities it's giving local officials large headaches. This sometimes happens when beavers move into waterways in urban areas.

Beavers have raised concerns in Bakersfield and in Elk Grove, near Sacramento. Now, they are the talk of town in the Bay Area city of Martinez. As The Times' Richard C. Paddock reports, opinion is divided on what to do about beavers who have built a dam downtown:

Ever since the beavers arrived here in John Muir's adopted hometown, the human residents have been divided. Some wanted to save them. Others wanted to kill them.

The first two beavers swam up from the [Sacramento River] Delta in 2006 and began building lodges and dams in the creek that runs through downtown. Their construction work has caused some property owners along the creek to worry that all that burrowing will undermine their buildings and cause major damage. For Martinez, bank stabilization has nothing to do with a fiscal crisis.

After months of acrimonious debate, the city is gambling that it can shore up the creek-side buildings without driving away the beavers -- which have drawn thousands of tourists who might never have ventured to the industrial town.

-- Steve Padilla

Photo: Noah Berger/AP

Comments

[Brien Comerford]

Beavers are intelligent, industrious and prolific workers. In many instances they are good for ecosystems and the environment. Do not kill these resourceful critters.

[Rochelle]

Yet another example of man vs nature. I hope that the beavers get to stay - if people weren't spreading throughout this planet like a virus than perhaps the beavers natural habitat would not be disturbed and this argument would never need to exist.