We are heading for the launch date of Glynnis Hood’s remarkable book “The Beaver Manifesto” so I thought I’d whet your appetite a little. Remember Glynnis is the inspiring researcher who has turned down the allure of grizzlies and wolverines and devoted her research and teaching at the University of Alberta entirely to beavers and the good they do. She is so famous that I was afraid to speak to her at the beaver conference but as luck would have it I got stuck with her at the airport for an hour and a half waiting for a plane that declined to take me. Best 90 minutes I ever spent.
(From Rocky Mountain Books Forthcoming Title Description)
Beavers are the great comeback story—a keystone species that survived ice ages, major droughts, the fur trade, urbanization and near extinction. Their ability to create and maintain aquatic habitats has endeared them to conservationists, but puts the beavers at odds with urban and industrial expansion. These conflicts reflect a dichotomy within our national identity. We place environment and our concept of wilderness as a key touchstone for promotion and celebration, while devoting significant financial and personal resources to combating “the beaver problem.”
We need to rethink our approach to environmental conflict in general, and our approach to species-specific conflicts in particular. Our history often celebrates our integration of environment into our identity, but our actions often reveal an exploitation of environment and celebration of its subjugation. Why the conflict with the beaver? It is one of the few species that refuses to play by our rules and continues to modify environments to meet its own needs and the betterment of so many other species, while at the same time showing humans that complete dominion over nature is not necessarily achievable.
You can pre-orderyour copy now! I liked the intro very much but the video image is a little colorloess for my tastes. How’s this?
And on a local note, beavers get a good plug from Martinez in Idaho:
