New Mexico is about to get a whole lot smarter about beavers, and you can listen in. I signed up yesterday for all four sessions because I am, as you know, a total beaver nerd. But look around and see what interests you.

In recent decades, the mounting impacts of climate change like smaller snowpacks, declining monsoon seasons, large and unnatural wildfires, higher temperatures and more severe droughts have engendered a new appreciation for the ecological benefits that beaver dams have for water conservation, wildfire mitigation and creating habitat for wildlife and forage for livestock.

Over the course of four separate sessions, the New Mexico Beaver Summit will explore these questions with expert panelists discussing the importance of beavers from historical, cultural and ecological perspectives, the challenges of living with beavers, tools that allow humans and beavers to coexist, and how to promote the recovery and repatriation of beavers through habitat restoration and reintroduction.

Yep that sound like a very good reason to hold a conference. We’ve been hearing mostly good things from New Mexico about beaver from Wild Earth Guardians and Wildlife Defenders and they are both involved with this conference. And it looks like they brought on some pretty good hitters to boot.

Aaron Hall

Aaron Hall works to protect species in aquatic and riparian habitats. He is responsible for identifying species and habitats for which Defenders can have a positive impact, and finding scientifically sound and pragmatic solutions to these threats to biodiversity.

Ben Goldfarb

Ben is the author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and named one of the best books of 2018 by the Washington Post.

Mary O’Brien

Mary joined the Grand Canyon Trust in 2003 to work with other conservation organizations to propose alternatives for forest plans for the Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti-La Sal national forests and other public lands.

Joe Wheaton

Joe Wheaton is an Assistant Professor at USU and a fluvial geomorphologist with over a decade of experience in river restoration. Joe runs the Ecogeomorphology & Topographic Analysis Lab in USU’s department of Watershed Science and is a leader in the monitoring and modeling of riverine habitats and watersheds.

There are other local voices as well but I thought these names would be the most likely to snag your attention. Mary is giving the keynote address and will turn 75 this year AND retire. Although she will continue to function as a guiding light for GCLT.

You just have to sign up. We have to reward good behavior.

You know I just had a thought about why, in these covid times, there isn’t a beaver conference in California. Starring Emily and her fire research, Jeff Baldwin and his excellent hydrology mapping, the beaver friendly habitat division of fish and wildlife’s Jennifer Rippert, Brock and Kate, Eric from San Diego, A friend from NOAA talking about dwindling salmon and a friend or two from audubon…our friends at CUSP or the waterboard…

Hmm…there ought to be…maybe there should be….maybe there will be…

Go here to sign up.

This lovely footage is from the underside of a beaver release by the Wenatchee beaver project in Washington. I snagged it off the beaver forum and thought it was lovely. I especially like how you see the beaver use his front paws for minor adjustments while swimming. I always suspected but didn’t know…