The Yampa Valley in Colorado is about to put Martinez to shame.  I guess we should not be surprised. Colorado had the last beaverCon and is the home of Ben Goldfarb and Sherri Tippie.

Can you be impressed and jealous at the same time? I sure was reading this.

Community experts eager to educate about beavers

The education series this winter circles around the One Book Steamboat reading choice for 2025 called “Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” written by award-winning environmental journalist and Salida resident Ben Goldfarb.

According to the Colorado Beaver Working Group, the beaver is a keystone species that plays a critical role in holding together ecosystems because the large rodents are engineers that build dams that raise water levels, slow water speed and change water direction.

“Beaver ponds and wetlands are biodiversity hotspots hosting many species including freshwater fish, aquatic mammals, waterfowl, migratory birds, shorebirds, amphibians, reptiles, plants and invertebrates,” according to the working group.

Okay that sounds great. I’m super excited. But tell me about “Changing water direction” How does that happen exactly? Do beavers change gravity? That’s fantastic! I had no idea!

Wildlife Biologist Jeremiah Psiropoulos from the Routt National Forest office in Steamboat Springs said beavers have been engineering the Yampa Valley for many years with dam building and tree felling that create wet meadows and riparian corridors that host a myriad of species.

“Whether your interactions with beavers are positive or negative – a destructive nuisance depriving your fields of water, or the excitement of a fleeting encounter in a high mountain stream – they are a creature that demand our respect,” Psiropoulos said

The library staff are encouraging readers to request a copy of “Eager,” which is available in print, digital and audio formats. The library staff is promoting the viewing of the short film “Beavers in Paradise” that shows beavers as they make a comeback in London through a community-urban beaver project.

That’s nice. I’d love to see that film too. Sounds like my kind of viewing. Here’s my favorite part.

Librarians created a new outdoor Story Walk that features the children’s book “The Lodge that Beaver Built.” The family-friendly walking and reading opportunity is located in intervals along a side path off the Yampa River Core Trail near the Stockbridge Transit Center.

Isn;t that cool? A family beaver trail! Please can someone send me photos? There used to be a cr0ss country ski trail in Kirkwood called the “Beaver dam trail” that long before I ever saw a beaver filled me with excitement!

A Tween Book Club for readers of “Rescue at Lake Wild” is scheduled for 5-6 p.m. Feb. 25 at the library to discuss the adventure book about friends rescuing orphaned beaver kits.

The science talk “NASA and the Beaver Believers” is scheduled for 6:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 in Library Hall featuring a conversation with landscape ecologist Nick Kolarik about using NASA Earth observations to monitor impacts of beaver-related conservation efforts in dryland systems.

Something for everyone. A science talk too for the star lovers. This is such a thoughtful beaver blitz!

A panel of local environmental experts will come together 6:30-8 p.m. March 6 in Library Hall to discuss “Beavers in the Yampa Valley.” Educators from such groups as Community Agriculture Alliance, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service and Friends of the Yampa will discuss beaver encounters, drought resiliency, fire mitigation, biodiversity and co-habitation with beavers across the Yampa Valley.

Readers can register to participate in a community book discussion about “Eager” at 6:30-7:30 p.m. March 12 at the library.

The finale for the educational series and One Book Steamboat 2025 will be an author talk with Goldfarb at 6:30-8 p.m. March 18 at Library Hall. With a master’s degree in environmental management, Goldfarb covers wildlife conservation, marine science and public lands management and has written for such magazines such as Science, National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian and Audubon.

I am super impressed. Well done steamboat valley folks. Now just tell me when the festival is!

And if you are interested in Beavers in Paradise you can watch it here:

 

When do you  think they will stop lying about beavers? Not anytime soon I think. Apparently this rehab center believes that all those lonely kits were “rejected” by their parents.

Um…okay. They were “rejected” because their parents and siblings went to live “on the farm”, Like that puppy your parents took to the pound when you were four. Does that make you feel better?

What annoys me is that insipid lies like that along with adorable but unsurprising beaver kit photos fund the rehab facility which instead of teaching people how important beavers are helps the media perpetuate convenient lies about vicious rodents whom occasionally reject a baby which leads to more trapping inevitably and starts the cycle all again.

Sigh.

Just once I wish a rescue center would tell the truth. “We’re raising this kit because Mr. Galter was worried that his basement would flood so he paid his nephew to kill her parents and older siblings rather than install a flow device to fix the problem for real..”

Those crazy beavers. Deliberately confusing people about the difference between dams and lodges. They never give up. You’d think a state like Massachusetts where the founder of the beaver institute lives would be immune. But No. They are just as vulnerable to beaver trickery as the New York Times.

Dog stranded on beaver dam rescued in Longmeadow

 

The owner called the fire department and crews put on their ice rescue suits to help Ranger. Crews were able to successfully rescue Ranger and returned him to his owner. Besides being cold, Ranger is okay.