Second beaver family in 150 years makes Los Gatos Creek home

For more than 150 years, there were no beavers known to be living in Silicon Valley.

That changed in 2013, when Steve Holmes, executive director of the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, was picking up trash along the Guadalupe River and noticed a tree that appeared to have been chewed up. He set up a camera and found a pregnant beaver, with a piece of plastic wrapped around its torso.

"Prior to that, the only sightings of beaver were above the Lexington Reservoir in the Santa Cruz Mountains," Homes said. "This was the first sighting of beaver down on the valley floor."

The beaver was rescued, the plastic snipped, and it was released back into the wild. Holmes believes the beaver moved out into the watershed to raise its family, and wasn't seen in the area again.

But all that changed earlier this summer when a family of beavers returned to the Los Gatos Creek. One of the animals was most recently caught on trail cameras Saturday building a dam.



Click through this slideshow to see more unexpected consequences of this year's rainy weather. These beavers are thought to be only the second family of beavers in the area in the last 150 years.

Click through this slideshow to see more unexpected consequences of this year's rainy weather. These beavers are thought to be only the second family of beavers in the area in the last 150 years. Photo: Screenshot/South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition Photo: Screenshot/South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Second beaver family in 150 years makes Los Gatos Creek home 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

Holmes said he's heard from people walking along the trail that they've seen five or six beavers at a time. He believes it may be the same beaver spotted in 2013, or the family of one of its offspring.

The beavers may have been pushed down from the Lexington Reservoir by this winter's heavy rains, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Holmes believes the animals' comeback can be credited in part to a dramatic transformation of the Los Gatos Creek area. Encampments along the creek have been cleared and the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition has removed 180 tons of trash from the waterways, Holmes said.

"We were able to do more deep clean during the drought because it was so dry," Holmes said. His group picked up batteries, needles, sleeping bags and shopping carts from dried out stretches of the creek bed. Holmes turns a lot of the trash he finds into art and uses it raise awareness for his cause.

"The Los Gatos Creek is the most urban waterway in Santa Clara County. It really is kind of a legacy play. If we don't take care of these streams, what are we going to be leaving for the next generation?"

Now, Holmes is hoping more people will join the cleanup effort so the beaver family who has moved in, and maybe others like it, can thrive in local waterways.

See the South Bay Clean Creek Coalition's Facebook page to find out more.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.