Official: Beavers wiping out trees in Reno on Truckee River
By Susan Voyles, Reno Gazette-Journal
Kim Toulouse, a Nevada Wildlife conservation educator, checked the recent work of beaver on a large Fremont cottonwood along the Truckee River, near the National Automobile Museum in downtown Reno.
With the trunk girdled or eaten all the way around, he said the 50- to 70-year-old tree is a goner. And the gnawed tree next to it is probably a goner, too. Then he spots the beaver’s lodge across the river.
Seeing Toulouse’s badge and uniform, Jay Hubbard, the museum’s collections manager, approaches.
“Who do we talk to?” he asks, about the damaged trees. Is it the museum’s responsibility? Or is the city responsible as it maintains the river path?
Toulouse said he doesn’t know. But he said some trees along this stretch could still be saved if they were wrapped in chicken wire.
“You guys have a lot of volunteers,” he said. “Here’s some work that needs to be done.”
No one is in charge of making sure the beaver population is kept in check along the Truckee River and its trees are wrapped, said Toulouse and Chris Healy, Department of Wildlife spokesman. And very little trapping is done within Reno and Sparks.