Beaver Ponds is an Environmental Education center at 10,000 ft on 70 acres of land in Fairplay Colorado. It defines itself with the mission statement:
To introduce people to the role and importance of preserving and promoting a physical environment that is healthy and sustainable for all living things – people, animals and plants.
It seems like a fairly dynamic teaching site, and must have recently revamped its website because I just got an alert about the group the other day. They have a link to the recent New York Times beaver article on their website including the correction about beavers not living in the DAM prompted by yours truly, but I was still suspicious. It wouldn’t be the first time that all the beavers were trapped out to make room for a shiny education facility.
Were there any actual beavers at BPEEC?
Apparently there were. I poked around their facebook page and found these photos of night shots of their beavers. I was very happy to see them, but since there about 85 miles away from Sherri Tippie they need to bring her on up and get a little more beaver education I think.
Um, no. Despite what that guy in college told you, this isn’t what love looks like. This is what Hope Ryden called a ‘push match’ where two yearlings wrestle to see who is stronger. If you had any brothers at all in your life you’ve seen it before. It’s not aggressive or amorous, but it definitely helps them practice for the big world they will find when they disperse.
Here’s two of our 2009 yearlings doing the very same thing at the primary dam. Enjoy!