Beaver Lake "may soon need a name change" because flooding of some homeowner's docks, has prompted the Sammamish Parks and Recreation Department to obtain an emergency permit from the Washington Department of Ecology to relocate a family of beavers (Castor canadensis) that built a dam on Laughing Jacobs Creek, raising the lake's level. Beaver have been shown to increase salmon and trout abundance and size in several ways: their ponds recharge water tables which replenish stream flows in the dry season, provide critical habitat for young salmonids, and remove sediment loads from streams. Contrary to popular myth, most beaver dams do not pose barriers to trout and salmon migration, although they may be restricted seasonally during periods of low stream flows. Insect, invertebrate, fish, mammal, and bird diversity are also expanded. Water levels behind beaver dams can be controlled easily with flow devices such as a Beaver Deceiver. In fact, a 2006 survey found that trapping as a solution to beaver problems had a 79% failure rate within two years due to re-settlement by new beavers.
