Yesterday our own wildlife VP, Cheryl Reynolds, sent me the link to this Terra episode on beavers. Click on the title to go watch the trailer or the entire thing, its ten minutes of nice photography and basic beaver benefit 101.
TERRA 213: Leave It to Beavers
9:51mins | 2006-05-01 | Produced by: Grue, Amanda
Beavers are often thought of as cute and perhaps even comical little critters. But have you ever stopped to think about their amazing engineering skill? What if we told you that beavers were helping the environment long before it became fashionable? Join filmmaker Amanda Grue as she shows us just how cool Beavers actually are!
Of course I marched straight out to research the researcher, who was not familiar to me. Dr. Eby Assisstant Professor of Aquatic Vertibrate Ecology at the University of Montana. I was very pleased with her willingness to examine beaver impact and consider their role in helping the environment, but I was surprised the newer research about impact on birds was not mentioned. Similarly unmentioned was the use of flow devices to control problematic behavior, which may be a director, rather than a researcher, omission. Finally I went looking for more information on her position on native fish and beavers, because I wasn’t sure how she accounted for the fact that we used to have a lot more of both. I found this paper which I’m still working through.
I will say I was especially intrigued by her interest in researching the social attitudes and impact of beavers…. Lisa! Have we ever got a story for you…
