There are precious few things I enjoy more than the trickle down from a fine beaver story. Ben Goldfarb’s book has stolen the show entirely (and even made it’s way into a Raging Grannies Christmas Carol – sharing soon) but the other Ben (Dittbrenner) and his colleagues published a splash with their urban restoration paper, Reintegrating the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) in the urban landscape. Even wires thinks so.
Who Gives A Dam About Beavers?
North American beaver (Castor canadensis) populations are on the rise as they continue to recover from the historic pelt-trapping era, which left many areas devoid of beavers by the 20th century. Their recolonization of historical habitats is increasing in urban streams and green spaces, which can often bring benefits to these areas. Dam building creates ponds and wetlands that store water, improves fish and wildlife habitats, and can provide ecosystem services, such as erosion reduction, sediment removal, and water filtration. Beavers also provoke controversy, however, due to their ability to cut down trees and flood areas, which can conflict with human activities and infrastructure.
Yup. It’s true. All those things are true.
Previously, the field of landscape architecture primarily focused on design elements aimed at aesthetic purposes and human values. Only recently has design begun to consider ecological restoration, habitat corridors, and ecological processes to improve local ecosystem functions. Some of the design principles that have recently shifted to incorporating and optimizing water-related ecosystem services and ecological benefits, such as constructed wetlands, are outlined in a WIREs Water article Reintegrating the North American Beaver in the Urban Landscape. A pivotal point to note is that some ecological and hydrological processes cannot be reproduced solely by intentional design actions, and require integration of keystone species and ecosystem engineers, such as beavers, to better mimic natural systems.
Are you with me? Some things you want in an urban stream can’t be made by human engineers. They can only be made by BEAVERS. Be still my heart.
The outcome of this study is to encourage designers to minimize site constraints, anticipate and manage beaver impacts, and utilize ecosystem engineers for ecosystem services. Features such as pinch points and variable elevation terrains in riparian zones could be created to achieve this. If these urban beaver management strategies and design action recommendations are followed, the ways that designers can leverage beavers when designing future urban and suburban green spaces could be improved.
Did I swoon? I think I just swooned. “Minimize sight constraints and let beavers bring their ecosystem services to the water table.” Is there a more perfectly tailored argument to make me happy? No, there is not. That is ALL I’ve wanted to see for the past decade.
Sure it would be nice to be mentioned as a test case, but hey, I’m not looking this gift horse in the mouth any time soon.
Since we’re all in holiday spirits now, I’ll share long time reader Gail’s expert lyrics to “Oh hear we come a’Wassailing”all You may remember 2009 when Gail and her fellow ‘raging grannies’ came to sing at the beaver festival. Ahh good times.
Here come all the beaver dams to help to deal with climate change
Mend the water tables all in their historic range
Love and joy come to you
Managed water levels too
Read the book by ben go-old farb
You’ll see that it is true
You may laugh but you’ll find that it is true.
