A while ago, I have no idea how long now because time has become a giant soupy mass with no beginning and no end, I was contacted by Dr. Jennifer Sherry a wildlife advocate at Montana office of the National Resources Defense Council, who wanted to have a discussion about beavers and beaver experts in the West. I got very excited. Allow me to repeat that. VERY EXCITED. Because they are usually all about the big sexy predators like polar bears, orcas and wolves, and I hoped it had something to do with the Trump administration’s expansion of nonlethal wildlife control and might make life better for beavers. Alas, it turned out that  funding was tightly controlled for carnivore’s and she just wanted to learn more. Which is still good news for beavers. She had just finished Ben’s book.

I introduced her to Jakob Shockey who as it happened was just forming the Beaver Coalition and recommended she go to BeaverCon to learn more. Turned out she was already registered because her boss was very interested in beavers and the good things they do. So then I introduced her to Mike Callahan and privately wrote him to be very nice to her because NRDC is the big kahuna of wildlife and would make a huge difference for beavers.

So the conference happened and was wonderful as you know and yesterday she released this:

BeaverCon: Convening the Beaver Believers

A group of around 200 impassioned scientists, practitioners and advocates came together in early March to discuss a rodent of great importance: the beaver. “BeaverCon” was a fitting name for the gathering—it’s hard to avoid puns and playful descriptors when discussing this oddly charismatic animal. But the discussions at BeaverCon were not to be taken lightly. Beavers’ ability to transform their environment through dam-building can lead to such an array of ecosystem benefits, it’s almost hard to believe. From reducing climate change through the capture of carbon; to creating habitat for sensitive species like salmon and sage grouse; to mitigating hazards like fire, flood and drought; to water storage and pollution filtration, presenters praised beavers as the unsung heroes of ecosystem health and resilience.

Hurray! Beavers make the big leagues! What a fantastic way to broadcast why beavers matter!

Across more than 30 presentations at BeaverCon, one theme consistently emerged: We humans need a major re-education on the place of beavers in our landscape (with the exception of many Indigenous peoples who have maintained traditional ecological knowledge). Western society needs more beaver believers, which is to say, we need to rethink the path towards healthy watersheds.

Her summary goes on to talk about the presentations, for example Frances Backhouse and the history of the fur trade, and ends with a reminder to pay attention to the good things beavers can do. And she asked if it was okay to end with our beautiful Ecosystem poster. And a magical link to our website!

The science has caught up with beavers and the consensus is clear: these animals are a powerful partner in protecting ecosystem and human health. We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to all that we destroy when we kill beavers. Where there are fewer beavers, there is less resilience, less diversity and most notably, less water. The critical importance of water is intuitively obvious, but we often overlook the connection between beavers and water. Addressing this disconnect will require confronting the perceptual and political barriers to accelerating beaver coexistence and restoration across North America.

 

Isn’t it amazing how something goes from an idea to a conversation to a discussion in Montana? I guess good things really do happen to beavers! Thanks Jenny.