Wel that’s a sure sign that the beaver story is approaching critical mass. It is finally showing up in religious commentary. Yes that’s right, I don’t know if it’s going to make it to every pulpit but this is definitely a start.
Beaver Dams and the Glory of God: Some Farmers and Ranchers Change Their Minds About Beavers
But just before I turn to your questions and just before we go into the weekend, I want to turn to other headline news. And this has to do with beavers building dams. It turns out that ranchers and farmers once thought that the beavers were the enemy, but all of a sudden they’ve discovered the beavers are their friends. And this is a story, by the way, coming in headline form from both sides of the Atlantic. A recent article in The New York Times points out that the warfare between human farmers and ranchers on the one hand and beavers on the other has been furious for a very long time.
At least in more recent years and decades, this has meant that farmers and ranchers, particularly in the American west, have been blowing up the beaver dams with dynamite. And frankly, it has been a battle that is sometimes won by the beavers and sometimes won by the ranchers. But they have cross purposes, or at least they have. The beavers are trying to dam up the water and the ranchers and farmers are trying to let the water flow. So, what has changed? A shortage of water is what has changed. And all of a sudden, it turns out that some of the ranchers and farmers, but particularly ranchers, are discovering that their cattle will now have access to water precisely because the beavers have built dams.
And thus, there are ponds and there are bodies of water that exist precisely because of the industrious engineering of the beavers. And you might put it this way, although The New York Times doesn’t, it is almost as if God intended it that way. I love the way the reporters for The New York Times describe the beavers, “Beavers can be complicated partners. They’re wild, swimming rodents, the size of basset hounds with an obsession for building dams. When conflicts arise, and they probably will, you can’t talk it out.”
All of a sudden they discovered this? They’ve been praying for rain or relief from floods for how many years and this realization just came ALL OF A SUDDEN?
But then we’re told, “Beavers also store lots of water for free, which is increasingly crucial in the parched west. And they don’t just help with drought, their engineering subdues torrential floods from heavy rains or snowmelt by slowing water. It reduces erosion and recharges groundwater. And the wetlands beavers create may have the extra benefit of stashing carbon out of the atmosphere.”
Then we’re told that the rodents, that means the beavers, are actually doing environmental double duty “because they also tackle another crisis unleashed by humans, rampant biodiversity loss. The wetlands are increasingly recognized for creating habitat for myriad species, from salmon to sage grouse.” And the Times then goes on to say, “Beavers, you might say are having a moment.”
As a matter of fact, in the state of California, the secretary of natural resources said recently, “We need to get beavers back to work. Full employment for beavers is a new state policy.” And again, it’s not just that there are animals able to drink and biodiversity that is being enriched by the beavers’ ponds, and that of course is the result of their building of dams, but it is also that the beaver dams and their systems actually help to prevent damage from floods and to retain water so that the flood water is not destructive but actually it turns out to be productive.
The mind reels. The jaw drops.
Now, again, there are complications. The beavers are decidedly single-minded. They will carry their twigs and branches that they have nod from trees right past the ranchers trying to light their dynamite. And there’s also something else and I find this worth noting. It turns out that the beavers apparently don’t know the difference between a fence post and a tree.
Now, I hope that story made you happy. And I think a part of the happiness for us is understanding that what is being portrayed here is just an indication of God’s glory in creation from the first. God made beavers and all creation for His glory. The beavers don’t know it, but we do. And sometimes, it’s just good and spiritually healthy for us to talk about it.
You think this story is about the glory of God and I think it’s about the glory of beavers. but well, okay. However you get there I guess. Just get there.
