Who knew the Weather Channel was packed full of such beaver believers? Not me, that’s for sure – but it makes sense when you think about it, Especially if beavers really are the climate heroes we keep saying they are.

I have found my new favorite person. And his name is Pierre Balduc. I think I will start a fan club. You might want to sign up after you watch this. I just spent 40 minute trying to figure out how to embed it but the weather channel is smarter than me and it can’t be done. Hopefully you will click on the link because it is beyond good.

Why beavers are a good ally in the fight against climate change

Saturday, October 8th 2022, 8:00 am – Once hunted and trapped to near extinction, the beaver — a national symbol of Canada — is having quite a moment among researchers for their ability to help prevent droughts, fires, and floods.
Pierre Bolduc stands near the pond that was once a stream on his Alberta property. His goal is to be completely self-sustainable, which has led him to be one of the largest residential producers of solar energy in Canada. His next plan is to set up a micro-green operation in the hidden compartment of his garage, which he also uses to design art projects with a climate change message. (Rachel Maclean)

“I’m one of the lucky fellows in the valley here that still have a significant amount of water for my well. And … I’ve got to thank the beaver, because before the beaver showed up, I used to run out of water, which is a terrible thing.”

After using his homemade trap to bring the beavers to his land, he set up a solar-powered CD player that played sounds of a running stream by the small creek on his property. That enticed the beavers to get to work.

“This is the reason why the dam is so straight, it’s because there was a line of speakers … there,” he said.

That raised the aquifer levels up by at least eight feet on his property, which also brought up the level on his well.

“So if you asked me if I love the beavers, oh, yes, I absolutely adore them. Because they helped me with my water issue,” said Bolduc.

The beavers even helped the local municipality, as they no longer have to come and clear out some of the culverts nearby.

Raising the water level also helps when it comes to wildfires, given the pond has created a lush environment more resistant to flames. Bolduc has a fire hose nearby so he can use the pond water to battle any fires that spring up, given his property is roughly 50 minutes away from the nearest fire hall.

While Bolduc has come to his own conclusions on what he calls an “incredible species of nature,” it turns out that new research supports his findings.

Emily Fairfax operates a drone while conducting some field research on one of her many trips to observe beavers in their natural habitat. She says if beavers can bring a little hope with all the doom and gloom that climate change brings, they are certainly climate heroes in her book. (Submitted by Emily Fairfax)

“And if you see these beaver complexes just sort of sprawling around the landscape. And you’re like, ‘Wow, this is huge.’ Imagine that times 10. It’s not just like, ‘Oh, a small stream has been changed.’ It’s truly the watershed that has been changed.”

She says there are a few ways to bring beavers back so there is less conflict with humans, including creating a good habitat for where you want them to build.

“If you have beavers in really high conflict areas and all coexistence has failed, like wrapping the trees and fences failed and putting in pond levellers has failed, you can take that beaver and in many places you can relocate it to somewhere where it’s more desired — where it’s going to have a better chance to live,” said Fairfax.

“Relocation is definitely not a guarantee. But if that beaver was sort of doomed to be lethally managed anyways, you might as well try to let it establish itself in a watershed where it’s further away from human conflict.”

Bolduc agrees.

“They do magic,” he said. “We need them to ease the stress that we are putting on the ecosystem by maintaining a … friendly relationship with the beaver.”

AND scene!!!

Some smart person had better figure out how to download that video or put it on youtube because it is everything I’ve wanted to say about beavers in one 3 minutes and 29 second space, Emily is more careful that relocation isn’t a guaranteed fix and is complicated and I was delighted to hear him say they do magic. I had to hunt up this graphic which surprisingly is from the very first days of my own enchantment. The photo is Cheryl’s and it is from our 2007 kits.