One of the beaver ponds along Bear Creek, with signs of the 2020 Mullen Fire clear on the horizon.(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

Increasingly destructive wildfires are a major issue in the American West. However, some researchers say that land managers have an unlikely ally in their efforts to confront the crisis: the beaver.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse traveled to a burn scar this summer to see the protective power of their wetland homes.