On a quiet spring morning, a resounding “Slap!” reverberates through the air above a remote stream leading to Lake Yellowstone. Over much of the past century, it has been a rarely heard noise in the soundscape that is Yellowstone National Park, but today is growing more common-the sound of a beaver slapping its tail on the water as a warning to other beavers.
When the grey wolf was reintroduced into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1995, there was only one beaver colony in the park, said Doug Smith, a wildlife biologist in charge of the Yellowstone Wolf Project.
Today, the park is home to nine beaver colonies, with the promise of more to come, as the reintroduction of wolves continues to astonish biologists with a ripple of direct and indirect consequences throughout the ecosystem.
A flourishing beaver population is just one of those consequences, said Smith.
Strategies to improve water quality in the region include making it illegal for people to use public water facilities for personal uses such as boating, and making sure that water resources get proper anti-bacterial treatments. <span />
Geography and climate determined what kinds of crops could be grown, leading to different structures for economies and settlements.
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