Hello, I am wondering if beavers are native to Santa Barbara, specifically along the Santa Ynez River. I have heard from different biologists both that beaver are and are not native to the area. The biologists that say they are non-native claim that there is no Chumash artifacts or paintings of beaver. Could you please let me know and point to any resources that may be helpful in backing up your answer?

Lindsy, Santa Barbara - November 6, 2025

Curator Response

Hi Lindsy,

Thank you for your interesting question—it’s one that has come up repeatedly for us over the years. As our understanding of beavers’ role in their ecosystem grows, people want to know where beavers previously shaped landscapes (and where they might be candidates for reintroduction and restoration).

From the evidence that we have seen, it is most likely that beavers in our state were originally restricted to Northern California. Archeological records from Southern California don’t contain any beaver material. A beaver skull found in Ventura County was later determined to have been planted there. Populations that now exist in Central and Southern California were likely introductions by folks wanting to breed them for the fur trade.

As for paintings of beaver, a few years back, John corresponded with a Chumash descendant and his professor in Biological Sciences at U.C. Berkeley (Alan Shabel) about a pictograph on the Sierra Madre ridge that was being interpreted as depicting a beaver. John is not convinced that particular pictograph represents a beaver, although there is a degree of resemblance.

Chumash peoples in historic times certainly were acquainted with the existence of beavers, whether or not they occurred within their territory. Chumash languages possess a word for beaver. In the Samala (Ineseño) dictionary, this word is written as č’ɨpɨk and only slightly different versions of this name are included in the Barbareño and Ventureño Chumash lexicons. James Yee, in his language classes that he teaches to other Chumash descendants, uses a story recorded from his grandmother, Mary Yee, in her native language that features a beaver, č’ɨpɨk, living at kaswa’ (Cieneguitas) here in Santa Barbara. This does not prove that beavers lived in Santa Barbara, but affirms that Chumash Indians were acquainted with the species in historic times.

We hope this information is interesting and useful to you,

Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Krista Fahy, Ph.D., and Curator Emeritus of Anthropology John R. Johnson, Ph.D.