Now this was fun! Ben Goldfarb was on IPR (Iowa public radio) yesterday talking about his book. Iowa. Can a beaver believer president be far behind?

The host Charity Nebbe was actually very informed and positive about the animals. There were the usual fish passage calls of course, but an elder gentleman actually called in to talk about how sad he was that the beavers on his farm had disappeared! Another favorite part was a nice discussion of the nature/nurture controversy around beaver dam building and I am certain Ben’s answer was influenced by the kit-with-mom-and-dad-working video I just posted.

Nice and full circle.

The Suprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

If you look closely at the page linked there is no mention of beavers or ecology in the tagline, because let’s face it. It’s IOWA and they know their audience pretty well.

BTW this story broke the same day.

Beaver causes power outage affecting 595 Consumer Energy customers

A busy beaver chewed through a tree which fell on a Consumers Energy power line and disrupted electrical service to 595 customers early Thursday morning.

Company General Manager Jim Kidd said he was notified of the outage at 4 a.m. The line fell down along a roadway bordering the Iowa River.

Crews had to clear the roadway before beginning repairs.

“Not many can report a beaver caused an outage, but we can,” Kidd said. 

Now that’s more like it! And you bet this article had ‘beaver’ or ‘beaver damage’ in its tagline.