Hurray for Ben Dittbrenner and Samantha Everett who will be presenting on our favorite topic on Monday Night.

Meet Seattle’s Urban Beavers

October 2nd, 6:30-7:30pm

Since their near eradication in the early 20th century, beavers have made a surprising comeback. Today, beavers have returned to many streams and waterways of Seattle, including Yesler Swamp in the Center for Urban Horticulture’s backyard. Come join us as we discuss beavers, tour their work, and potentially view some busy beavers in action. , Ben Dittbrenner (UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences), will provide a presentation on beaver life history and ecology. Samantha Everett, local beaver expert, will lead a tour through Yesler Swamp, stopping at active beaver areas with some potential beaver viewing at dusk.

If you are interested in the tour portion, please bring a flashlight!

Doesn’t that sound enormously fun? I first met Ben when he joined me and Mike Callahan for a quick lunch at the state of the beaver conference before we presented that afternoon in 2011. At that time he was working as a watershed Steward in Sonomish County in Jake Jacobsen’s old job in Sonomish. Beavers were definitely on his mind and he knew they were the direction he was headed.

Now he is Executive Director of a beaver nonprofit called “Beavers Northwest” and operates a website and relocation project in Washington. Jake who was one of our very first beaver friends back in the drama, is on the board as Treasurer.

Meanwhile I received an alarm call from Cheryl yesterday who stopped by the Concord Dam on her way home from work. A not very appreciative homeless woman was ripping out the dam with her crutch. Seems too many people were stopping to look at the dam and giving them less privacy for their encampment. So she got rid of the attraction.