Take a beaver-filled swamp tour right in the heart of Seattle
If you want to enjoy them, the Friends of Yesler Swamp has organized canoe tours to go have a look. Once abundant throughout the region, beavers are critical ecosystem engineers that make the plumbing of Puget Sound estuaries function as it should. To get some idea of just how important they are in the function of the ecosystem — and how widespread the estuaries they lived in used to be — read my story in the Seattle Times about a fascinating study by biologist Greg Hood on the role of beaver in the estuary.
Oh don’t you love the state of Washington? A beaver renaissance of ecological thought and understanding. A Nirvana of folk who know better. Sure it has its pockets of beaver stupid scattered throughout the land, but it has powerful forces like Michael Pollock of Northwest Fisheries NOAA, Joe Cannon & Amanda Parish of the Lands Council, Retired watershed steward Jake Jacobsen of Snohomish County, and beaver friends like Nancy Bartlett of Tidal Life. Washington is head and shoulders above the rest of the country in beaver management, and this article about a guided tour in Seattle makes me want to start driving north.
Here, in our urban context, we usually think of them as pests, and it’s typical to see trees in Seattle fenced to protect them from chewing beavers. But put all the pieces back together in a functioning ecosystem, and the welcome role of beavers is plain.That’s just what the Friends of Yesler Swamp are seeking to do: spotlight the role of beavers in a swamp that has managed to hang on right on the fringes of asphalt in the heart of the city.
Oh, let’s go soon! Do you think it’s like this?
