A drought took the river. Beavers brought it back.

A team from Utah State University began moving displaced beavers to the drought-stricken Price River in 2019, betting that the animals could do what expensive engineering could not. Six years on, the water levels are the healthiest in years and the fish are thriving. Beaver dams slow a river's flow and create ponds where wildlife can shelter while the rest of the riverbed runs dry, waiting for rain. The beavers relocated by master's student Emma Doden and her colleagues had been captured or removed elsewhere for being a "nuisance," the polite word for chewing through infrastructure. Not all of them stayed. Some died, some were killed by predators, and some simply left. Enough remained to build dams and rebuild the watershed. The Price River runs through downtown Helper, where a Salt Lake Tribune column in 2025 said the revival "helped save our Utah town." On a warm day it is now full of people tubing and kayaking, on water that was nearly gone.