BURLEY, Idaho (AP) - State and federal officials, trying to keep more water in Cassia County, are considering bringing in some natural experts: beavers.

"Beaver do better work than the Corps of Engineers," Mike Todd, regional wildlife habitat biologist with the Magic Valley Region of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, told the South Idaho Press.

Water from snow melt tends to flow quickly through the southeast Idaho county, so fast that it doesn't have a chance to filter down to the aquifer or form pools that would remain through the dry summer months.

"If you have a riparian system that needs to be repaired, beaver will bring back some stability," Todd said. "When drainages dry up, places with beaver ponds have water still available."

Along with Todd, representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Mid-Snake Resource Conservation and Development Area, and other local soil and water conservation districts are discussing whether to transplant beavers to public land in the county.

Some irrigators with water rights might not want beaver dams.

"We'll have to work on the perception," Todd said. "These little critters are good. They do wonderful things for the habitat. There's nothing more beautiful in the high country than a beaver pond."

John Shelly, a rangeland management specialist with the Forest Service, said beavers are protected on federal lands on several drainages of the south fork of the Boise river.

He said the dams the beavers have created slow the runoff and help protect against bank erosion. Ponds behind the dams improve water quality because sediments settle to the bottom.

Another benefit, he said, is that grasses and trees grow around the ponds, which big game animals use for food and cover. The shade from the vegetation also cools the water, benefiting fish.

"Some of the old-time ranchers and irrigators thought it would rob water," Shelley said. "In actuality, it was being stored and making the creeks last longer into the dry months."

Todd said that in Cassia County, the Sublett, Albion and Black River have areas that are suitable for beavers, which prefer slopes of 3 percent or less to build dams.

If a decision is made to bring in beavers, the move probably wouldn't happen for another year, he said.