modified with fish-friendly structures designed to allow fish passage, effectively reconnecting the three tributaries to the mainstem river corridor. To safeguard the entire system from nonnative fish invasion, a large instream barrier was installed in 2012 below the reconnected part of the watershed near the Humboldt River. North American beaver (Castor canadensis) seem to have been making a comeback in Elko County possibly due to less fur trapping combined with reduced consumption of riparian willow and other vegetation by cattle. A remote sensing project found 107 beaver dams along of Maggie Creek in 2006, which rose to 271 dams in 2010. Beaver dams are accelerating recovery of riparian vegetation and widening the riparian zone as they slow the water and collect sediment that used to be lost downstream. In five years, beaver ponds have increased the amount of impounded water on Maggie Creek from of stream to . The impounded water is seeping into the ground and raising the water table. Newmont's shallow groundwater monitoring wells along Maggie Creek have shown about a rise over the past 17 years along Maggie Creek. Stream flows are more perennial, making more water available for wildlife and livestock and protecting populations of native trout. Maggie Creek's Beaver Creek tributary flows from Beaver Peak in the Tuscarora Mountains. See also Humboldt River Susie Creek References External links Maggie Creek Restoration Project page at Nevada Department of Wildlife Rivers of Nevada Rivers of Elko County, Nevada