Sounds like the name of an epic novel, doesn’t it? It’s not fiction, fortunately, but the actual ecological truth. The beavers are returning to Detroit after over 75 years of skipping town because of unclean living conditions.

John Hartig serves as the Detroit River refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and explains that the beavers’ return signals that a multi-layered effort to clean up the river has finally paid off.

“It’s part of that larger story of ecological recovery,” Hartig said, who cites the return of many species to the Detroit River area in recent years including sturgeon, whitefish, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, walleye, and, now, a beaver.

“If it’s cleaner for them, it’s cleaner for us, too,” says Hartig.

The river’s ecology is finally recovering, said Tim Payne, Southeast Michigan wildlife supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

“There’s no question that having a cleaner river is having an impact on species coming back,” he said.

A photo taken by a Detroit Edison motion-sensitive camera in November shows a beaver on company property. It is the first beaver seen in Detroit in at least 75 years and is a sign the river is cleaner.