Rocky Mountain National Park

The gate on the ten-foot-tall fence opened easily, and inside the wire exclosure the willows were even taller. Beyond the wall of leaves and branches were the sounds of rushing water, backed up by a complex of beaver dams, cascading down, hidden beneath the brush. The beavers were back.

Two species that came close to being wiped off the U.S. landscape now are being looked at as keys to "rewilding" the American West, a movement seen as building on the Biden's administration determination to see at least 30 percent of the nation's lands and waters preserved for nature by 2030.

It’s August, summer, and hot in many units within the National Park System. So, this month’s quiz and trivia piece is all about water and its many forms.

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.