A red-banner day for beavers and Ben Goldfarb came with yesterday’s interview on PRI, which means it aired on public radio stations in roughly 50 states. I am SO happy that ben’s fame continues to unfold in ways that benefit the cause, (although, to be honest, if he never answered another question on squeezing a beavers anal glands it would still be too soon for me).

‘Beaver Believers’ say dam-building creatures can make the American West lush again

Beavers, the largest rodents in North America, are sometimes seen as pests. But a growing cohort of self-styled “Beaver Believers” is celebrating the dam-building creatures as a keystone species on which entire freshwater ecosystems depend.

In his 2018 book, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter,” author Ben Goldfarb examines the history, ecology and physiology of beavers — and describes why some landowners are welcoming beavers to help store water and revitalize streams in the increasingly arid American West.

So, what does it mean to be a “Beaver Believer?”

“The Beaver Believers are a tribe of scientists, land managers, farmers and ranchers — really anyone — who believes that restoring these incredible little ecosystem engineers can help us deal with all kinds of environmental problems,” Goldfarb says. “The Beaver Believers are people like me who have come to recognize that this is an incredibly important animal that we should cooperate with in landscape restoration.”

And child psychologist! You forgot to mention child psychologists. I hear some of them are beaver believers. Ahem.

When beavers build their dams, they create ponds and wetlands; they help store water for farms and ranches; they help filter out water pollution, which improves water quality; they create habitat for many kinds of fish and wildlife that we care about; they slow down floods; and their ponds can act as fire breaks.

Beavers might even be able to help humans cope with some of the consequences of climate change — wildfires, heat waves and drought. Goldfarb describes, for example, a pond he visited in the Methow Valley in Washington State.

“The Methow is a very dry place that has been hammered with fire in the last several years,” he says.

At this particular pond, one side had been totally scorched and the other side remained green.

“It was clear the fire had hit the pond and basically hadn’t proceeded any further,” Goldfarb says. But, he adds, “the ability of beavers to act as firebreaks is one of those things that hasn’t really been quantified in any kind of meaningful way.”

Ya think?

I like to imagine those radios all across the country in kitchens or in cars tuning in for beaver benefits, This is what I hoped for with Glynnis’ book, or with Frances’ book. Or with the great work out of NOAA or Utah. But it took the right kind of message and the right kind of reception. Thanks Ben for letting us watch this unfold.

Beavers deserve this.

Mean while yesterday our wildlife friends in England were part of a dynamic “Peoples’ Walk for Wildlife” and I thought you want to see some photos. This is Derek Gow from Devon with one of my favorite signs and below are a bunch of his photos of the day I snagged off his facebook feed. Thousands of people turned up to march on Whitehall, which is basically government central in London. Most of them carried signs or wore wonderful costumes. Here is an article in the Guardian in case you want to read all about it. Click on any photo for a larger view or to scroll through them all.