If you were watching PBS news hour thursday night you might have seen something amazing. Of course there was the usual segment about climate change, but this was slightly more cheerful than fires in LA or evaporation in the North.

Why engineers are turning to beavers for insights into managing water resources

Beavers and the dams they build are not always embraced in the areas where they do their work. But there’s a growing recognition that they also are building a kind of natural infrastructure that helps with water management and the climate. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien went to see the beavers at work during their busy season and has the story for our ongoing coverage of Tipping Points.

Sure it’s persuasive to your average PBS donor to have a spunky hydrologist measuring silt and flying drones at a beaver pond, but if you ask me the real magic comes at the end when a man on a horse says that beavers improve his “Crick” and make grass for his cattle.